AN: I just need a couple more votes on the poll before I can write the ending! if you haven't voted (it's on my profile) please go do so!
March 9
Tenten woke at dawn on the day of her birthday with just one thing she really wanted to do. she climbed out of the single bed that had been in the room she'd moved into a few months prior and stretched a little, feeling the baby do the same before probably going back to sleep. It would be time for the morning meal soon, and she would make her birthday request there. Tenten gave a small sigh and slid the door open, stepping out into the hall and heading for the dining room.
'I want to go and see his grave.'
The announcement was met with a surprised silence by the others around the breakfast table. 'are you sure, Tenten-Sama? that doesn't seem a happy way to spend one's birthday,' Mamoru remarked, looking to his clanmates to back him up. There were nods on all sides.
All but one. Tenten glared momentarily at everyone before looking down at her food. 'I haven't been to see it yet. I haven't been strong enough. but I want to go now. and,' she said, looking up again and this time glaring at Hiashi, who raised his eyebrows in surprise, 'since I can't go anywhere without an escort anymore apparently, I thought it would be proper to ask permission.' the clan leader gave a small cough behind his fist. whether it was meant as guilt or amusement at the pregnant woman's exasperation was lost on everyone there.
'I never stopped you from going anywhere,' Hiashi told her with the faintest of smiles showing only in his eyes. 'and I know you're plenty strong, Tenten. but please understand how much you and your child mean to the clan. all of your guards are perfectly willing- they're all volunteers for the job.'
'I still don't like that you didn't tell me.' Tenten shifted and took the last bite of her food. 'all right, who's going with me today?'
'as long as that's not the only place we're going, I will go with you,' piped Hanabi from a short ways down the table. several pairs of eyes looked to the 13-year old heiress incredulously.
'um...thanks, Hanabi-Sama. we'll spend most of the day in the village, of course. but I'd like to go to the grave first, if that's all right.' the girl nodded and Tenten stood, moving to the door. Hanabi got up to join her after a moment.
'...it's...so plain,' Tenten murmured, staring at the characters carved in the stone before her. NEJI HYUUGA glared at her from the flat, slightly angled surface. in front were two sconces, for flowers or incense, and one looked empty while another held a few condolence flowers which were starting to wilt. Tenten wondered who had come and left them there. she knelt down by the empty sconce, preparing to put a flower in that she had brought along from the estate, when she noticed it wasn't actually empty after all. 'what's this?'
Hanabi looked at the tiny cylindrical item that Tenten pulled from the sconce. 'it looks like a small sealing scroll,' she observed, and Tenten nodded. 'I use ones just like these to carry my weapons- or, I used to, before all this.' she opened the scroll and unfurled it, noting it was only two feet long and had only one item sealed into it, with a rhyming couplet added along the side for decoration. it read something to the effect of "do not kneel by my grave and cry; I am not here, but am alive."
Tenten recoiled in shock after reading the tiny poem, almost dropping the scroll. 'is this some kind of sick joke?!' she blurted, showing Hanabi, who likewise took a step back in disgust and surprise. 'now I have to know what's in here,' she said, striking the scroll's seal and revealing...a flower.
'ah,' Hanabi murmured at the sight of the white, cup-shaped blossom. 'it's a lotus. that's the flower for a baby born in july, like He was.'
Tenten scooped the lotus up in one hand, examining it with suspicion from all angles, but it was really just a flower. 'well...I guess I'll leave it here for him, then,' she murmured after a moment's thought, laying it gently in front of the grave. after a moment's hesitation, the picked up the scroll and rolled it up again, tucking it away. 'let's go- I think I want curry for lunch.'