In Fate's Hands
Chapter Seven:
I Will Be With You Again
It was cold, and there was a thick covering of mist hovering just above the ground that swirled around her body and the surroundings. The sky was a dreary gray, casting an ominous glow on everything that was not encased in shadow. Tenten looked around, feeling uneasy as she reached into her pocket to produce a kunai – just incase something were to happen. She wasn't sure where she was and she wasn't sure how she had gotten there. She was alone in an unknown place, and though she had been taught since a young age that ninjas would find themselves alone and far from familiar ground she wasn't prepared for it. Attempting to control her increased heart rate, Tenten tried to convince herself that everything would be fine.
A twig snapped from somewhere to her right, and she turned quickly. Fear pulsated through her veins as she prepared to defend herself. It grew quiet again, but this only caused Tenten to grow tense.
She heard a noise from behind her, and she spun around again. Tenten became anxious quickly as she waited, her eyes staring into the distance to try to see through the mist and discover who was there.
The outline of a figure slowly approaching became visible, and Tenten inwardly panicked. Bracing herself for some sort of a fight, she waited in silence for the figure to become fully visible.
The outline grew closer and closer until it finally stepped into the mist - free circle that seemed to have formed around Tenten.
The kunai fell to dirt with a small clatter that seemed to echo endlessly after it had dropped from Tenten's hand. She started shaking, her eyes focused on the figure as she felt the tears rush forth as they prepared to emerge in a fury of emotions. She tried to speak, but her throat had suddenly dried up. Her heart raced at a dangerous speed, aching with passion and longing while her brain filled with confusion, relief, and disbelief.
"Neji…"
The single name managed to slip from her mouth and hung in the air, growing heavier than the mist that surrounded them. Neji continued to look at Tenten, his face blank but his pale eyes brimming with an incomprehensible amount of longing as he gazed at his wife for the first time in months. Forehead protector gone and safe back at Tenten's apartment, his curse mark was clearly revealed. He looked tired and somewhat worn – out, seeming older than his twenty – four years.
Tenten didn't dare to move – she was too afraid to, believing that if she even breathed he would disappear and she would awaken alone in her bed, back in Konoha with her beloved daughter and friends but without him.
But at the same time she wanted to reach out and touch him, just to make sure that he was really there.
Moments passed in silence, but the air was filled with the mixture of nervousness and romantic aching that pulsated from both ninjas. Tenten was still at war with her thoughts, still too confused about whether this was all real or not to try to comprehend what to do next. Something seemed different this time, even though she was almost sure she was dreaming. There was something too real about everything.
Finally, a few tears took the opportunity to escape from Tenten's eyes and slip slowly down her cheeks as she choked back a sob, her emotions getting the better of her.
Neji moved forward, and the next thing Tenten knew he was wrapping his arms around her quivering figure and pulling her close to him, tightening his grip around her body and resting his cheek against the top of her head.
Tenten sobbed freely as she gripped his arms and buried her head against his shoulder, choking out "Neji!" between the quick intakes of breath. She felt his arms around her, felt her hands on him – this was real. He was really here with her.
Tenten continued to sob and speak Neji's name, trying to figure out how to place the emotions of the last six months into one sentence or action or feeling, but she found herself at a loss and so she stuck with crying. Neji cradled her to him as he kissed the top of her head, patiently waiting for her calm down as he allowed her to figure out her emotions.
Time passed slowly, and Tenten eventually grew quiet. Once her tears had stopped flowing, she turned in his arms slightly to look up at him. He was looking down at her, a small smile having formed on his lips.
The tears threatened to rush back, but Tenten managed to push them away. She was tired of crying.
"Neji…are you…is this…" Tenten attempted to begin, but she found herself unable to create a coherent question.
Neji shook his head. "I'm here," he whispered, and his voice was real. It was the most beautiful sound Tenten had ever heard in her entire life.
She opened her mouth to attempt to speak again, but she was cut off when Neji leaned down and placed his lips against hers. Tenten's ability to function froze for a moment before returning with a heated fury and she wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back with an intensity that she was unaware she had possessed. Neji was momentarily surprised by the amount of force she was returning his kiss with, but he enjoyed it and eagerly responded with the same energy.
When they finally parted, both were breathless.
"I missed you," Tenten finally whispered several minutes later. The couple was sitting on the ground, Tenten resting against Neji. Sudden back pain had surged through her when they had finished kissing, reminding her that she was still with child and ready to give birth within days.
Neji had momentarily forgotten about the child also due to his preoccupation with Tenten, but her sudden groan of pain had pulled him back to earth and reminded him of the child that, along with its' mother and sister, he had not stopped thinking about for the last six months.
Neji frowned slightly as he stroked the back of her hand gently. "Don't be too relieved," he murmured sadly into her ear. "I'm afraid that this isn't permanent."
Tenten shut her eyes as a fresh wave of pain flooded her body. She turned to face Neji, weary and despaired. "What?" she asked. She had known this was too good to be true.
Neji's eyes were mournful as he gazed at Tenten, his heart as heavy as hers. "This isn't going to last," he began again. "Not for too much longer, I'm afraid. I probably shouldn't have come to see you. I don't want to cause you more pain than what I've caused you the last six months, but I needed to see you. The depression that has settled over me since I left you has been almost unbearable. You have been all that I have thought of during that time, along with our children. It has been a dark and lonely half of a year for me."
"But why can't you stay?" Tenten inquired. She was touched by his words, her heart swelling each time he spoke – but her confusion was still great and she had questions she wanted answered. "I don't understand. Where have you been? And where are we? How did you get here?"
Neji looked away for a moment, his pale eyes distant. "I can't tell you where I've been or why I can't stay," he responded. "Not yet. When the time comes, when I am back for good, than I will be able to answer that question." He paused, his eyes searching Tenten's face for signs that she understood what he was saying. Once satisfied with her dismal yet understanding reaction, he continued. "I'm not sure where we are – some figment of your subconscious, maybe? I don't know. But they, those whom I have been with for the last six months, were able to bring me here. They have some technique which I have never heard of nor knew existed that they used that brought me too you – only after some good arguing on my part did they agree to allow me to see you."
Tenten listened, understanding most of what he said but still confused by it. Another thought occurred to her – it seemed silly now, after everything Neji had just said, but she felt it needed to be addressed.
"Are you…" she began, but her voice grew quiet and she couldn't finish what she wanted to say.
"Alive?" Neji finished, and Tenten nodded her head sheepishly. He gave her a small smile and laughed slightly. "Why don't you tell me?"
Tenten leaned in towards Neji, slipping her arms around his body as she rested her head against his chest. She paused, waiting, until she finally heard his heart beating. Each beat was strong, concluding that life was flowing actively throughout Neji Hyuuga.
Tenten smiled. She had known he was alive the entire time he had been gone. She knew he wouldn't die on her.
"Tell me about them," his voice cut in, and Tenten looked at him with confusion. Her head was still on his chest, but his arms had found their way around her body and his cheek was once again resting against her the top of her head as his fingers stroked her hair gently.
"Who?" Tenten questioned.
"Aiko, the baby, Lee – anyone that has played a major role in your life since I've been gone," Neji responded.
Tenten told him as much as she could remember. She spoke about living with Lee and how Hinata had moved in with her too, how she had announced that she was the mother of Aiko and that the little girl didn't take the news too well at first but had come to realize that Tenten really was her mother, about how the baby was kicking, about Shikamaru's visit, his concern for her well – being, and that he had guessed the significance of the forehead protector, and about Lee and Hinata's close and new friendship.
Neji listened with rapt attention. He reacted well to Tenten's revelation to Aiko that she was her mother and that the unborn child was her sibling, and he was glad to discover that Aiko had accepted Tenten's revelation as the truth. He was surprised to hear that Hinata boldly defied Hiashi by moving in with Tenten but was glad that his cousin had made herself useful. Anything involving the baby absolutely thrilled him.
Neji only seemed quiet and slightly negative about one thing – the relationship between his cousin and male teammate bothered him slightly, more so than discovering that Shikamaru had solved the mystery of the forehead protector.
"Are you sure that they're just friends?" he asked. "By the way that you've described some of their interactions, I'm not too sure that they're as innocent as you make them seem."
Tenten paused to think for a moment, racking her brain as she went over the images of Lee and Hinata together. They got along very well, and they always seemed preoccupied with each other – more than they had been in the beginning. Hinata flushed easily in Lee's presence, often commenting about how much she admired his youthful ways. Lee, in turn, seemed slightly awkward around Hinata and took extra care to treat her well, flushing as easily as she did when any situation involving them together in some way occurred. They also went out of the way to hug each other a lot – Tenten had noticed that right way, but she had pushed it from her mind as nothing more than the average behavior of Lee and Hinata.
"You know, maybe you're right," agreed Tenten. "They do seem a little too friendly."
Neji sighed exasperatedly. "Great," he mumbled. "I don't need to have Lee as a cousin – in – law."
Tenten smiled slightly. "It wouldn't be that bad," she said, until images of small children possessing Byakugan eyes and bowl haircuts running around in green spandex as they shouted about their springtimes of youth filtered throughout her brain. "On the other hand, maybe you're right about that too."
Neji smirked slightly.
They became silent for a while, conversation drifting off into extinction. The couple quickly became absorbed with each other's presence once they felt calm and content. Tenten tightened her grip around Neji, savoring every moment she had left to spend with him. She tried to push away the waves of oncoming sadness as she waited for him to announce his departure, once again taking him from her for another period of time.
The tears were back, and Tenten cursed them for appearing every time she felt herself becoming emotional. Neji had just come back for the first time in six months – he was with her again; she could hold him, hug him, kiss him, and touch him as much as she wanted to and he didn't disappear like his image always did in her dreams, but he was going to be yanked from her by these people that were keeping them apart for some currently unexplainable reason.
It was almost as worse as a dream, knowing that he was with her again but would be gone as quickly as he had come. With dreams, she knew she would wake up aching with disappoint that would fade as the day went on.
This time, the aching would engulf her completely and the emotions that she had tried to overcome would take hold of her once again.
She would be alone again – there was that factor too. Tenten shuddered at the thought, causing Neji to hold her closer.
She wasn't prepared for that sense of loneliness either.
It grew cold suddenly, the quick drop in temperature pulling Tenten from her reverie as she felt Neji tense.
"I have to leave now."
His voice was sad, filled with regret. It ripped into Tenten's heart and she once again burst into tears, the mental preparation she had done to ready herself for the announcement of his second departure failing miserably.
"I don't want you to leave!" she cried out, gripping his sleeve. She realized how childish she sounded – like Aiko when the little girl was upset or confused about something she could not understand.
"I don't want to," Neji whispered as he rose slowly, helping her up with him.
Once standing, the two spouses looked at each other. Her dark eyes locked in a gaze with his pale orbs, and for a while neither one wanted to look away from the other.
Neji broke it by leaning in to kiss Tenten again, his lips more gentle this time than last. Their kiss was bittersweet, slow and passionate and filled with a sense of farewell. It was long – they wanted to make it last. But it had to end, and when it did both Neji and Tenten knew that it was not enough.
He pulled her close to him again, resting his lips near her ear. "I will be back," he whispered. "I promise. I do not know how much longer it will take me to finish what I am doing, but once it is through I will return to you. We will be together again, a family with both our children. Just continue to be strong, like I know you've been."
Tenten nodded. It would only be for a little while longer.
It continued to grow colder. Neji scowled at the second temperature drop, but he continued to hold onto Tenten. When she started shivering he broke the embrace, kissing her on the forehead gently.
"I love you."
Neji whispered the words so silently that they were almost inaudible, but Tenten heard them anyway.
"I love you too," she choked out between the fresh burst of tears.
He stepped away from her, smiling slightly.
"It's time."
Tenten woke in her bed, sitting up rapidly as she looked around the room. It was still dark and she could barely see, but her heart was racing and her cheeks were wet.
She had known she would find herself in her bed once her reunion with Neji was finally over. Images of him continued to swirl in her mind, and she could still feel his lips against hers and the warmth of his arms around her body.
It was almost like he was still with her.
But she knew that he was gone, back to where he had come from. But the important thing was that he was still alive and that she had gotten to see him again – despite the fact that she didn't know when he would permanently return to her, the time she had spent with him was enough to keep her going for a few more months.
But one thing still confused her. What had he meant when he had said, "It's time"?
Tenten was about to ponder the possibility of what the question meant when the answer made itself very, very clear to her.
She felt a wetness between her legs as she shrieked with a sudden onslaught of unfathomable pain, grabbing her stomach.
Her water had just broken.
The baby was coming!
(Fin)
(End of Chapter Seven)
A/N: Well, welcome to the end of Chapter Seven (obviously)! This is a very interesting chapter - I'm actually really proud of the way it turned out, something about it makes me very happy and I worked really hard on it (...review, please?)...
...and it contains NEJI!!...and mentions of LeeHina!...and Tenten's water broke, which means SHE'S HAVING THE BABY!!...and I ended it with a cliffhanger - GO ME!!
Anyway...
Thank you for reading and please review! Chapter Eight: Coming Soon!