"WEEEEEH!" Iji's cry reverberated in the men's bathroom, where Neji was currently attempting to change his nephew's soiled diapers.

Behind him, men stared. STARED. There was mute sympathy in their eyes for the Guy Who Must Deal With the Stinky Disposables, as they too, had their share of that experience at some points of their lives.

But the same men had silently, unanimously agreed that this pale-eyed man looked every inch a novice in this field that must undergo the initiation on his own.

"Iji, you are making things difficult for us," the exasperated uncle said out loud, uncaring whether a crowd was forming behind him already. "Sit still, so I may sanitize your organs."

The baby refused to listen to his rationale, and instead, wiggled his butt stubbornly, wailing like an ambulance siren. He pounded his little fists on the counter, which was also grimed by the dirty diaper too.

Neji groaned. "Iji, do not compel me to induce forced sleep jutsu on you." He silently wondered how Tenten went about this part of the babysitting. It wasn't that he was underestimating his former teammate's skills, but he had always thought of her as a combat machine incapable of domesticated activities.

The babe kept on hollering still, perhaps confident that what he said was nothing but an insensible thunderbolt—a futile threat.

And well, Iji was right.

Neji carefully deliberated on the situation, studying the possible solutions and options and consequences of the circumstances, until he finally found his answer.

He turned to the crowd behind him. "Someone please teach me how to do this. I am offering a bottomless beer coupon in exchange."

…………………………..

Chapter dedication: Omitot. Paki- Happy Mother's Day mo naman para sa akin ang Mama mo. I-hahappy Mother's Day naman kita sa lolo ko. :D

………………………..

Tenten scanned the dark-clad men with her wary brown eyes, shaking her head. Her hand, on the other hand, was discreetly aiming for the kunai tied at her back—it could have been easier had her kunai been placed on its usual holster wrapped around her thigh, but Neji would have easily noticed her weapon then.

"Don't move for your weapon, kunoichi," one man said hoarsely. "Just lead us to the Hokage's son then you can leave."

"Look, I'm just scratching my back," she said casually, her hand taking a slight detour from her weapon. "The problem with you guys is, you're too jumpy. Must be from the heat. You better take those cloaks off already though—it's thirty-eight degree Celsius outside, in case you haven't checked."

"The Hokage's son," repeated the man. "Take us to him!"

"I would," she said smoothly. "But Neji and I… we're not exactly on friendly terms right now. But it would be nice if you and Iji would bond. He really should talk with people his age—"
"Quiet!" yelled the man, making her smile. With all the arguing, no one had noticed her hand swiftly move towards the handle of her weapon.

"Easy! I was paying you a compliment." She moved her fingers lithely. "Almost all the elders I know liked being called young."

The man from the right noticed what she was doing. "She's making a seal!"

But it was too late.

…………………………

"I don't trust them," said Sakura as Naruto handed her a strawberry cone. They were standing in front of the scooping station, waiting for the start of the show.

"Them who?" asked Naruto, reaching for his own chocolate cone. "The ice cream man? The Spongebob merchandise seller? The popcorn peddler? The Spongebob mascot? The kid that called you Patrick?"

Sakura rolled her eyes at him. "Hokage-sama, I was referring to those people in black who talked to you." She looked down at the sidewalk, her mind's wheel busily spinning. "They said they have what you need… at the right price. Hokage-sama, I can't believe you're dealing with those kinds of people! One look and you'll know that they're unscrupulous people!"

Naruto licked his ice cream with much gusto.

"Why do they have to put a price tag on what you need? Why do they have to ask you to meet them without the office's knowledge? Why do they have to wear black on a sunny day?" she demanded in between bites.

The Rokudaime pursued the drip of chocolate cascading down his waffle cone with his tongue.

"WELL?" Sakura raised her voice in indignation. "What do you have to say for yourself, Hokage-sama?"

He smiled at her boyishly. "Ne, Sakura-chan, don't judge a book when your mouth is full."

Her eyes narrowed. "Another Gai-sensei quote, huh?"

…………………………………

With two of the five men down with her strings' paralysis ninjutsu, Tenten aimed her kunai at the third man jumping towards her from above. It slammed directly on the man's abdomen, and as blood gushed out, Tenten appeared on top of him and tied the man's body up like a hog.

When they landed on the ground, the man was still howling in horror, unable to take the gory mess of his body. Tenten paused only long enough to apologize mentally to the man's family— for the man's mind was too weak to counter the amount of genjutsu that she used on him.

The enemy noticed that too. The leader smiled at her malevolently, mockingly even. "All but a child, aren't you, kunoichi? You can't even shed real blood with your hands. Illusion techniques are for cowards."

"And battle dialogues are for those who have no real combat abilities to show," she said, coming up behind from seemingly out of nowhere.

"Leader!" The other ninja appeared in front of Tenten and stabbed her shoulder.

The sharp blow of pain stunned her, and the ninja seized the chance to slam his foot on her chest. The impact sent her flying against a tree.

"Hmp." The leader of the pack faced the wounded female smugly. "You think you can really win over all five of us, little girl?"

"I-I…" Tenten struggled to get up, diverting her attention from the pain coursing all throughout her body. "I-If I were y-you, I…w-wouldn't get s-so… c-cocky…" Her fists clenched the black mask that she was able to steal from one of her enemies. "I-I… I'm not…I'm not Neji's f-favorite sparring m-mate f-for… for n-nothing." She forced a smirk to replace the pain on her face. "And Neji…Neji is your clan's number one genius."

The younger ninja, whose mask was snatched away from his face, gasped. Quickly, he touched his forehead protector. Sensing nothing, he looked down at the ground, and there laid fallen was the dark blue item.

The man's pale eyes boiled in anger. "You…"

Tenten could feel her energy slowly returning, what with the little rest that their conversation was giving her. "The Rokudaime told me to expect you guys," she said, satisfied that her voice was slowly regaining its firmness. "As soon as you guys knew who Nanny Cookie was, you went straight to the Hokage-sama to blackmail him with your discovery. And then you demanded that he pays you to keep the operation a secret. When he didn't agree, you told Neji. You thought he didn't act on what you reported, so you told Hiashi-sama. But when Hiashi-sama only confronted the Rokudaime verbally, that's when you decided that things should just be settled by your own hands." She faced the leader squarely. "Isn't that right, Hyuuga-san?"

She saw the man stiffen, making her smile some more. She had pieced that scenario together like a jigsaw puzzle when she caught sight of the Konoha forehead protector's glimmer behind the black cloak. It was only then that the Hokage's request for her mission extension made sense.

Stay and look after Iji.

It wasn't all just about his privilege to see Iji secretly—she was there to keep the baby safe too, until such time that Naruto could finally claim him.

She readied herself for another assault. "I don't have any idea as to how much is at stake here—wealth, power, or Hiashi-sama's position. But I'm warning you: Iji is my baby too, and your arses have to bypass my kunai first before you can have Iji."

"YAAAAH!" The remaining bodyguard of the leader launched another offensive attack on her, but having recharged herself in those precious minutes of talk, she ably avoided all the man's punches and kicks.

At the corner of her eye, she saw the leader step back, and then flee.

"Damn, where is he—ow!" Her split-second loss of concentration caused her to be vulnerable for some seconds. Taking heed, the assailant pushed her down the ground. This was quickly followed by his hand controlling her own hand that was wielding her kunai.

A breath later, he successfully manipulated the edge of her own weapon to pierce her flesh.

……………………………………………

"...strap the belt. There." Neji smiled in satisfaction when his sophomore effort at changing diapers without supervision proved wildly successful—no counter to wipe clean, no laughing families watching him manipulate the diaper, and even Iji had won himself out from crying and had now settled down the countertop in passive silence, contentedly toying with his frog figurine.

There were times that he would curiously look around, as if searching for someone. He would even point at some women whose hair's color stood out from the crowd, but he would only sag like drenched fabric upon learning that it wasn't his beloved nanny.

"I could get used to this," he told himself confidently. "And the diaper smells nice…the unused ones, I mean."

He gazed at Iji, who was looking back at him with sad blue eyes, asking where Nanny Cookie was.

Stop it! He told himself harshly. What did a baby know about missing random people? Sure it would miss someone as intimately close to him like his biological mother, but Tenten… Tenten was just a nanny that had been with him for barely a couple of months.

So then, the emotion he was just seeing in the baby's eyes… what was Haruno Sakura's explanation about it? It was all but a projection of what he felt—what he was really seeing in others was but a reflection of what he was really feeling inside.

However, that insight only made things more unacceptable for him.

He was on his way out of the bathroom with Iji when he met a familiar person hurrying towards him. He recognized the man as his relative from the lower branch family—the very same person who revealed to him the true identity of Cookie.

"What's the problem, Makoto?" he asked, puzzled by another Hyuuga's presence in this children's festival.

"Black men… black men summoned by the Rokudaime are after Iji…they attacked me and your other uncles, Neji-sama. They were that kunoichi's backups!" yelled the frenzied old Hyuuga, clutching his arm. "Hide Iji! They must not get our clan's next heir!"

But before Neji could interrogate his relative some more, black-dressed men appeared on the treetops, weapons ready.

Makoto looked around in fear. "The innocent people… they might get involved—"

Neji thrusted the baby to his relative's hands. "Get Iji home as fast as you can. Inform Hiashi-sama that he and the baby must leave Konoha at once and in secrecy." Neji's eyes crinkled in fury. "They will not take Iji away from us. Never."

"But what about—"

Neji shook his head. "I'll take them as far away as possible from the mainstream crowd. We can then part ways when the crowd thins. It'll be safer to use our clan jutsus in open spaces."

Makoto nodded vigorously. "Take care, Neji-sama."

………………………………….

Tenten walked slowly, feeling the blood dripping down and out of her body steadily. The wound inflicted on her shoulder ran deep, but bleeding to death was her last concern in mind.

Neji… I must warn him. And Iji… She choked back a sob—she was never the one to allow emotions to rule her calmness. It was equivalent to suicide in missions. But despair had overtaken her, with the creeping knowledge that she might just be too late to save Iji.

She hid her bleeding injury well with the bright loud colors of her Cookie get-up. But closer inspection would reveal the paths that hemorrhage had taken: the stained scarlet of life that cascaded down her fingertips and leaving a trail on her path.

Is this how mothers feel? She wondered randomly as she unsteadily passed by happy mothers carrying their children happily towards the festival entrance. I thought I was fearless, considering the amount of dangerous missions I've accepted and the times I've really found myself in a life and death situation.

But until now, I've never felt this determined…this hell-bent to do my job. All in my mind right now is to keep Iji safe. I couldn't think of dying, not until I've seen his condition. Tears sparkled in her eyes as she looked up at the sky. Hinata-chan, you're up there right now, watching, I'm sure. Please look over Iji.

Her eyes softened. In the most unexpected point of her life, she found the answer to one of the questions that boggled her somehow in the early days of her mission.

Why did Hinata choose to bear a child if she's aware of her health conditions?

A single tear rolled down her cheek, unopposed for the first time in her life. Because Hinata… is a mother.

…………………………………….

Neji and Makoto had been running furiously for the past few minutes, with the black-clad enemies hot on their trail.

Iji, on the other hand, was crying loudly—he bore no recognition of the arms holding him now.

"Hang on, Iji," said Makoto, rocking the infant in his arms.

Meanwhile, Neji assessed the environment and soon pronounced it suitable for his jutsus already. After repeating his urgent instructions to his relative, he watched Makoto flee from the grounds, just as the enemies caught up with them.

Neji prepared his battle stance. "You're not going anywhere."

The ninjas looked at each other, and then headed for the Hyuuga genius. It only took the latter several seconds to shove them away through his absolute defense technique. He moved towards them for a second wave of attack.

Just then, he heard a terrified yelp from behind.

He turned to see Makoto stop dead on his tracks, with Tenten standing in front of his relative, eyes set on the baby.

…………………………………………

Iji practically squealed in delight upon seeing her. Tenten smiled, despite the excruciating pain she was experiencing at that moment. Iji was safe, at least for this moment.

The man holding him took a step back, the fearful expression on his face instantly morphing into that of a wrathful one. "You… you're still alive…" hissed the old Hyuuga, his grip tightening on Iji.

"And you… you have a lot of friends." She gave the other fallen black-clad men on the ground a quick sharp glance. "You drafted them from the Ninja Academy or the Konoha Preschool Foundation?"

"You're too late, you witch," snarled the old man silently.

"What—" Confusion was on her face when he suddenly hurled himself towards her, screaming, "You'll never get our Iji alive! NEVER!"

Her heart froze when he grabbed her hand, pulled it towards his waist where another kunai was resting, and then used that same weapon to stab him in his heart.

Neji watched in shock as his relative dropped down to the ground, bleeding severely.

Tenten, on the other hand, stepped back. "I-I didn't…I never…"

Iji, on the other hand, was crying furiously, unable to take the weight of the man on top of him. This snapped Tenten into action, making her kneel down in front of the corpse to retrieve the child.

But just then, a net fell on top of the body and Iji. When she looked up, she saw more men in black overhead, giving her a thumbs-up gesture.

And that was when it hit her.

A frame-up! The Hyuugas… they planned all of these in case they fail on their first plan!

But before she could react, the men appeared on the ground and snatched both the body and Iji. Another person grabbed her and helped her up. She tried to resist, but the next thing she knew, a kunai slammed on that person's nape. She immediately dropped down to the ground.

Neji was about to throw another kunai, but the people had already disappeared. He took a step forward to try to detect them through his Byakugan, but he then noticed the now generously-pouring blood from her wound.

"I-Iji…go…go after Iji…" she instructed weakly, wincing painfully.

"You're bleeding to death," he snapped coolly, reaching for her. "I'll pursue them later…when you tell me where they are."

"Y-You got it…all wrong…" Frustrated, she forced herself to straighten, only to collapse back into his arms. "Iji…is in danger…"

"Yes. Thanks to you." He carried her, and then hurried back to the Hyuuga compound, which was nearer than the town hospitals.

"I-Iji…" she whispered weakly as they traveled. "Y-You have to…"

"Shut up and save your strength." He looked down at her. "You will not die. You will not have an easy way out of all of this. You will answer to your responsibilities, Tenten."

She bit her lower lip, unable to stop her tears from falling anymore. She closed her eyes shamefully, trying to hide the wet teardrops from his sight.

But when she heard him curse under his breath, she knew he saw.

A few minutes later, the overwhelming pain finally gave in to her loss of consciousness.

…………………………………….

"Iji! IJI!" Tenten collapsed on the sidewalk, her head throbbing painfully as she tried to search for the familiar face of the baby among the crowd for one last time before her strength would be completely zapped.

But there was no sign of him. And Neji was already running behind her, breathing hard too. She instantly knew what happened—he didn't make it in time.

Her eyes filled with stinging tears. "I-Iji…"

The merry yellow-donning crowd was oblivious to the two devastated people who had just lost a most precious little soul amidst all the festivities of the park's event.

…………………………………………

"You're awake."

Those were the first two words that Tenten encountered when she first regained her senses. She opened her eyes and saw the familiar brown ceiling and felt the even more familiar wood flooring of the Hyuuga house.

Beside her, the Hyuuga family medic looked at her in disgust. "Too bad you weren't able to escape along with your cahoots, eh? Neji-sama will catch up with you and your companions later on, and then you'll pay for even thinking of mocking our great clan."

A sigh escaped her audibly. She understood that the people of this compound didn't know what they were saying, but it still irked her to be accused unfairly of something she didn't do.

For now, she ignored the painful comment and turned her attention to her body. She tried to move her muscles, but felt dull ache in doing so. She concluded that what she dreamt… really happened.

Iji… Anger threatened to overwhelm her, but she piped her emotions down for the moment. It wouldn't be sensible to shed light upon the world of the blind, at least not yet.

"Where is Neji?" she chose to ask instead.

If the medic was stunned by the bold utterance of the first name of the clan head's right hand, the doctor didn't show it. "Downstairs. Anyway, why—wait, you shouldn't be moving yet!" He tried to stop her, but she was already on her feet, heading slowly for the living room.

…………………………………………….

"How is the search party faring?" asked Hiashi quietly. Everyone was seated in the living room, where they had spent a sleepless night, waiting for updates on the baby's whereabouts.

"Negative, Hiashi-sama," replied his lower branch relative sadly. "The authorities are even cooperating with us already in the search, but it seems that the baby has disappeared without a trace," another relative remarked, shaking his head in despair.

"Only one person has enough influence to stage a scenario like that," said Neji in an acerbic tone, looking at Tenten pointedly, who was just about to step down from the flight of stairs.

Her wound had sapped most of her energy already, so she contented herself with an anemic reply. "The Rokudaime will not do this."

Neji grunted. "Heh. Why wouldn't he? After all, he had already gone this far by sending you here; why not finish the play?"

She gritted her teeth and counted to ten. "He's not the one behind this, Neji. He doesn't play dirty—he doesn't know how to, geez!" She combed her hair back in annoyance. Lack of sleep, fatigue, and anxiety were all taking its toll on her emotional state. She decided to get up.

"If you think you can leave this place like a free man, you're wrong," Neji said coldly. "You're not walking away while my nephew is missing."

"The way you're talking to me now, I won't be surprised at all if the devil pops in here and gives me a scholarship grant in his university." Tenten flashed him an irritated glance. "I admit that in taking orders blindly, I was wrong. But the Rokudaime… he's a very good man. He will never deliberately hurt anyone, even you, Hyuuga Neji. He will never do anything like this!" With that, she pivoted and stomped away angrily.

"Just where do you think are you going?" he snapped, following her.

"TO THE BATHROOM! AND YOU'RE NOT INVITED!" she exploded, making him step back.

As he watched her march off, infuriated, Hiashi cleared his throat. This made Neji face the clan leader.

The old man shook his head. "Is that really the way you show your feelings to the person you care for the most?"

He had no answer for that.

……………

to be continued