WARNINGS: OC usage. Because I've yet to do a NejiTen with children fic where one of those kids survive, have I? Enjoy this, then.
Table for Two
TenTen glanced at her husband over the rim of her glass, fighting off a grin with little success. It was hard to decide whether he was dressed up or down for this oh so special dinner. True, he was in a kimono, but it was a simple dark colored cotton one that would be easy to clean and hide stains well. Obviously, he expected things to get messy.
Considering the staff for this anniversary meal, she couldn't blame him. She'd dressed very much the same.
Her amusement was only increased as she watched Neji's hand twitch on the table cloth. It was obvious he was fighting against his instinct to just reach over and take the match from Hibari. To be fair, having their tiny nine-year-old blind daughter light candles wasn't exactly an easy thing to sit through. The worst that would happen were some burnt finger tips, though, and it was probably a good idea for her to learn how long it took a match to burn anyway.
Her dark auburn hair was pulled back well away from the flames, and if Hibari put the flame close enough to her face to catch the bangs that hung down in her eyes on fire, TenTen would have been really impressed. There wasn't really in danger of her catching her clothing on fire, either, as her pink and white kimono was short sleeved, and all loose pieces had been kindly pinned up for her.
That didn't stop Neji from wanting to do it for her, like he always did.
He finally caved, a little, and TenTen grinned as he spoke quietly, "you're too far to the left."
"I can do it," Hibari chirped back, though she did slowly move in the right direction, obviously trying not to knock over the candle she had already successfully lit.
It was impossible to keep from grinning at the woefully expression Neji sent her way. From the start, Neji had been protective of their youngest daughter. Maybe it was the circumstances she'd been born in. Hibari was their blessing baby—the one they didn't know existed until she decided to pop out while she and Neji were in the middle of enemy territory. A ninja from the moment she drew her first breath, with dark auburn hair and milky chai tea colored eyes.
The tiny infant who rarely cried and was three months old before they realized she couldn't see.
Neji hated letting her do anything that might cause her harm, and it was only through lots of patient explanation that TenTen had gotten him to understand that Hibari had to make mistakes or she wouldn't learn, just like any other child. It might take Hibari longer, but she'd get there. Just like she'd learn to be the greatest ninja Konoha had ever seen, in spite of Neji's objections to her being enrolled in the Academy at all.
Sometimes, TenTen thought, he loved that girl too much.
Three matches later and both green candles were successfully lit, and Hibari grinned proudly around the small pink digits she was currently sucking on. Fourteen-year-old Hotaru removed these from her sister's mouth as she walked by, scowling a little when Hibari stuck her tongue out at her.
Hotaru was dressed in her fine silk sky blue kimono, her long brown hair up in an elegant twist instead of its usual two braids. The kimono had once belonged to TenTen, a first anniversary gift from Neji, but thirteen years and three children later, it was much better suited for Hotaru's figure than her mother's.
If forced, under torture, to pick the daughter who was her favorite, the one she was closest to, TenTen had to say it was Hotaru. Neji had been gone for the first year of her life, leaving TenTen to raise her alone and the closeness they had developed then never really faded. Hotaru with her serious, by the book personality, and failure to understand any and all social cues just reminded TenTen too much of Neji as he'd been as a child.
It was endearing.
Hotaru bowed low, pausing to send a slightly miffed look at the lock of hair that fell down into her face, though she didn't break posture to push it back. "I hope you are having a lovely evening."
TenTen looked at the empty low table in front of them, the ivory table cloth that had somehow become stained, the flickering candles, and the glasses of apple juice. Neji's eyes met her's across the flickering flames, and they shared knowing looks. It wasn't her favorite Chinese restaurant, where he had proposed, but their kitchen floor had its own sort of appeal. "Yes, thank you."
There was a crisp nod from Hotaru as she straightened, removing a couple of menus from under her arm. They were folded perfectly center on white paper, the characters inside written with the exacting precision that only their oldest daughter could accomplish. Each of these was placed in front of one of her parents. "I will be your waitress this evening. I'll start you off with…" Hotaru looked over her shoulder at the white sheet that was hung between her parents and the rest of the kitchen.
"Edamame," came the whispered voice from behind, their middle daughter busily working away on the food.
"Would you like something to drink with that?" Hotaru asked them eagerly, not bothering to repeat what they had heard.
"I'll take just water, thank you," Neji murmured, scarcely glancing up from his menu. That's how he always was at restaurants, and TenTen rolled her eyes fondly.
"I'll have the same."
Nodding sharply once more, Hotaru stood, ducking behind the sheet to access the refrigerator.
Each of the items listed on the menu was a simple dish, well within the capabilities of their 12-year-old ball of sunshine. TenTen 'hm'ed a little, peering over the top of her menu at her husband. "So, come here often?"
"No, not very," Neji dead panned, and Hibari giggled. For all his genius, Neji was notoriously bad in the kitchen, seemingly incapable of making anything not labeled as instant. His legend for disaster was only topped by TenTen's. She's melted the instant containers once or twice.
Where Hachiko had gotten her cooking skills remained a mystery to her mother. With red hair, cropped short to keep the thick curls tamable, Hachiko probably looked the most like her mother in spite of her byakugan eyes, but they were as unalike as zebra and penguins.
Always smiling, trusting, loving Hachiko, who wouldn't hurt a soul and believed with all her young heart that the world and the people in it were good and were her friends. Neji called her his Honey Bear, and TenTen couldn't think of a more apt description. She was so unlike either of them, but it was impossible not to love her.
TenTen just wished she'd take her ninja training a little more seriously. It was easier to get Hibari to agree to target practice then to convince Hachiko to do more with her chakra than blow butterflies around with it.
"Don't suppose you have any recommendations, then?" She grinned at her husband, and he simply shook his head. If it wasn't fish soba, he didn't tend to show much interest.
"I think you should have the Oyakodon," Hibari said cheerfully, plopping down on TenTen's right. "Hachiko-neechan did a practice one yesterday, and it was really good. She did something with the sugar and chicken, I don't know."
"Don't you have a job to do?" Neji's foot brushed over TenTen's bent knees as he sought out Hibari under the table to nudge. "You're ruining the romantic atmosphere."
Hotaru choose that moment to reappear, glasses in hand and the bowl of soybeans on her head. She sent a dark look at her younger sister, one that their daughter could no doubt sense but was choosing to ignore.
The edamame had no sooner been set down than Hibari was reaching for them, grasping a handful and quickly shelling them. "I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure a date in your house doesn't count as romantic."
"You are no expert," and Neji winked at her, smiling the way he did only for her. "Anytime I'm with your mother, it's romantic."
Somehow, even after all these years together, Neji still managed to make her blush like a teenage girl, and she had to look away or it would just get worse because he was looking at her like she was the center of the entire universe. In his mind, she was.
That was how they'd gotten through everything—an unplanned pregnancy, three kids, several life threatening events, a year apart—with relatively few scars to show for it. He hadn't let her duck and run when it was hard, because he loved her too much to let go.
"Then I'm not really making a difference." Hibari shrugged, popping one of the small beans in her mouth.
"I'll take your orders for dinner," Hotaru said loudly, eye visibly twitching as Hibari tried to throw a soybean in her mouth and hit her forehead. "After the main course there will be dorayaki for dessert."
There was a gasp from behind the curtain, and a small, "my azuki beans, I forgot, oh no!"
This was followed by several loud bangs that caused TenTen to wince and a squeak accompanied by the whoosh of something highly flammable catching fire. Hotaru paled slightly, saying nothing as she dashed back to fight off whatever chaos was happening in the kitchen of this small restaurant.
"Still romantic?" Hibari quipped cheerfully, tossing another bean in the air to try and catch.
Neji snatched it out of the air, putting it to the side of his chopsticks. "I told you, Hibari-chan. Anytime."
