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Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me, otherwise the NejiTen would be canon.

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Enjoy.

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Chapter 16.

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In his neither love nor hate of winter there was one thing he did hate, rain. He had nothing against snow and he had nothing against rain in other seasons, but rain in winter did seem a horrible thing to him. At least snow was just flakes that could be brushed off before they melted and soaked clothes, rain wasn't, and it was just as freezing. So that mid-February rain had him somewhat annoyed, plus he could hear it even over his headphones. Fortunately that morning he had had enough common sense to park nearby when he saw the gray cloud approaching on the horizon and at the office he had an umbrella for just such occasions, but he still didn't like it.

"Hello?" the voice brought him out of his anti-weather rant, seeing the chocolate orbs, "excuse me, it's..."

"Come in," he answered at once and Tenten obeyed him, standing by the door.

"I'm sorry, my boss was calling and..."

"The program crashed again?" he asked surprised, to which the brunette nodded, "I talked to your boss last week, I made several corrections and she herself checked that everything was working."

"I'll tell her..." he could see her uncomfortable, which didn't surprise him.

"Tenten," he interrupted her, "we are adults, it's okay," she opened her mouth but didn't speak, "come on, sit down and tell me what the problem is so I can correct it."

"It's a book that doesn't appear," the brunette advanced towards the chair, sitting down and then he noticed that her coat sleeves were slightly wet.

"Would you like some coffee?" she nodded, taking the cup in her hands to warm up as soon as he handed it to her, "you should have told your boss you wouldn't come because of the rain, you'll be freezing until you get home."

"I'll be fine," she played it down and he chose to concentrate on his work.

His brow furrowed as soon as he opened the library software, no doubt he was going to file a complaint against the programming student who was being too clever. So what he thought was going to be a couple of minutes loading the information turned into almost 2 hours of him reviewing and correcting the code that had been altered, looking for any traces the careless student had left behind in the process.

"Sorry for the delay," he excused himself when he was finally able to leave everything as it was, "has your boss said anything?"

"No, I already told her that I didn't drown and that you were solving the problem... I'll let her know that it's done."

"Perfect, do you need anything else?" he was about to ask her about Yumiko, but he desisted.

"No, thanks..." he reproached himself for his stupidity of weeks ago as soon as he saw her leave the office, for having ruined the friendship they had and for not talking anymore.

He made a note on his to-do list to check all the College systems again on Monday to make sure everything was in order. The week of recess was starting that afternoon so the following week he could devote his full time to this without some other department complaining about the lack of service. When he saw that his schedule was ending he got ready to leave, looking for the umbrella he had stored there because the rain hadn't stopped.

"Are you here since you said goodbye?" He couldn't hide his surprise to see Tenten standing by the door of the building, it was already completely dark outside.

"My boss told me that I can leave since I left your office, I had left my umbrella outside but when I went out it was gone and I have to go pick up Yumiko from the kindergarten, but..." it was understandable, it was at least suicidal to go out in that weather without an umbrella or any protection against the water.

"I can give you a ride," he offered.

"No, it's not necessary..."

"Tenten, you don't know when it will stop raining," not counting the hour she had already been standing there, "and it's not wise to go out and wait for the bus like that," she opened her mouth again and closed it, nodding, "my car is nearby."

The brunette stuck to his arm as soon as he opened the umbrella and they stepped out into the rain, taking care of every step so as not to fall through the slippery ground. He moved first to the passenger side so she could climb in and then rounded the vehicle so he could sit in his place, leaving the umbrella on the floor in the back.

"Where is the kindergarten?"

"It's a few blocks from my apartment," that didn't tell him much, so he looked for his phone to open the GPS so she could point the place there, "thank you."

"You're welcome," he answered as he started the car and began to follow the instructions, "have you thought about buying a car?"

"Yes, but I'm waiting to move and then I'll see about the license..."

"Don't you know how to drive?"

"I learned in my junior year of high school, but I've never had a full license, at the moment I have the basic one only because it serves as identification," he remembered that one, to get it it was only necessary to pass the written test and not the driving test itself, "I've never tried the practical one because... well, I don't have a car to try it and there's the issue that here people drive on the right, but I'll figure it out soon," there was silence after that sentence.

"How's your apartment search going?"

"On hold, my landlady told me that the tenants of the third floor will be leaving at the end of the term, so I could move to that apartment and the price wouldn't increase so much, she told me that I could even paint Yumiko's room as I want... besides I already know the area and the move wouldn't be so complicated... so I will wait, if they haven't left by May I will look again."

"I'm sure it will be a nice place what you get, that Yumiko will like it," Tenten smiled in response, and they both stayed in silence the rest of the way.

"Thank you," she said by way of farewell as soon as he stopped in front of the indicated address.

"What do you think you're going to do? I'll wait for you and I'll take you to your apartment, it would be irresponsible of me to leave you on your own at this moment."

"I can call for a cab."

"At this hour and in this weather?" Tenten bit her lip, "You said it's only a couple of blocks, right?"

"I won't be long," was the resigned answer.

"Wait, here," he reached out to take the umbrella and pass it to her. It was just a couple of minutes when he could see the brunette again, now with a bundle wrapped in clothes in her arms, opening the back door to sit down there.

"The water is freezing," he heard her complain as she checked that Yumiko was still dry, "thank you for this."

"You're welcome," he held out the phone again, "where do you live?"

It was true that it was only a couple of blocks, the difference was that when he stopped he took the umbrella and got off, turning around so that both Tenten and Yumiko would be sheltered from the rain when they got off.

"Do you want to come in?" asked the brunette when they were by the door, he could feel his wet coat and had to take it off soon or he would freeze, "at least while the weather gets a little better," the rain showed no signs of stopping.

He nodded his head, following Tenten as she opened, the woman wasn't lying when she said it was a small place and it was barely big enough for 1 person. He left his coat and shoes in the area intended for that, fortunately the temperature inside the place was pleasant. The brunette for her part removed all the layers of coat that the girl had before leaving her on the floor to walk on her own.

"Please sit down," she commented and he went to the sofa, on the coffee table there were a couple of books from her career, "would you like tea or coffee with cookies?"

"Tea would be fine," he accepted because the hot drink sounded good, the brunette smiled nodding her head and walking to the kitchen.

"Honey," he heard now in a singsong voice, "it's time to eat," the little girl ran to where her mother was, Tenten caught her, kissing her cheek as the girl babbled something and then put her on the floor again.

He stopped paying attention to what was going on with the brunette and her daughter, devoting himself while waiting to check his phone, noticing that it was much later than he thought. Among his messages he read that Kankuro was complaining about getting wet and that was why he had had to go home first to change his clothes, and the problem was that his father now didn't want to let him out. Temari was just asking if he would be on time for dinner to which he denied, it was no more conversations he had to check. He pushed the device aside as Tenten set the cups of tea on the coffee table for both of them, along with a couple of plates with the cookies.

"I'm sorry, Yumiko only eats animal shaped cookies and I haven't gone to buy normal ones," she apologized as she saw him looking with a raised eyebrow at what appeared to be a giraffe.

"I think it's been at least 20 years since the last time I ate one of these cookies," he confessed before putting it in his mouth, smiling because it tasted just as he remembered, "did you paint that picture?" he pointed to a landscape on one of the walls, he could see the 3 birds flying.

"Yes, I did it for my parents a long time ago... it was impossible for me to leave it when I traveled, it's... it was the representation of my home."

"It's nice, it's good that you're still working on your artistic side."

"Thank you," Tenten smiled with some melancholy, "my parents always supported me in that."

"It's important, I still remember dad and Kankuro arguing because my father didn't like the idea of his son being an artist."

"Your brother is very good at his job.

"And you haven't seen him paint, although he says he doesn't like it and every now and then he grumbles around the house because we have several of his paintings hanging up."

"A designer, a writer... and an engineer, I guess you didn't follow the path of your siblings."

"Don't count Temari in the creative area, she's an industrial designer and you can hardly describe her as an artistic person."

"Oh, I think I just kept the word designer... What's wrong, honey?" Yumiko had arrived next to the sofa holding a bottle in her hands, so Tenten picked her up, "do you want to watch your TV show?" the brunette pointed to the remote control, "do you mind?"

"Not at all," he handed her the remote and the TV was turned on, being quickly switched to the children's channel where some dolls in the shape of numbers were singing and dancing.

"I hate the damn program, but it's educational and it entertains her," he couldn't help laughing, especially because the little girl was humming in her mother's lap, "it won't be long before she wants to go to sleep, I swear that one day I'll look for the production company and I'll set them on fire... that or I'll turn out singing as well."

"I don't think Yumiko wants her mother to be in jail."

"For singing?" Tenten had started to laugh, "of course."

It was funny that he had turned out to be entertained by the program Tenten claimed to hate, losing track of time until he heard the brunette whisper that she wouldn't be long in coming back, leaving the nearly empty bottle on the coffee table before carrying a very sleepy Yumiko away in her arms.

"That's it now," the channel was changed, "I'm in for a weekend of that show, I need some peace of mind in the meantime."

"I think I should go."

"Really?" for a moment he seemed to see her disappointed, "no, you're right, it's late..."

"Did they leave you a lot of work for your reading week?" he decided that he could stay at least a little longer.

"As always, at least I'll be at home."

"Listening to the program in the background," he said mockingly and saw her rolling her eyes, "but yes, it's good to be home."

"What about you?"

"My schedule is as usual, if all goes well next week I'll fix the library software, your boss will be happy and won't send you back to the systems area."

"That..." they both remained in an awkward silence, he just wanted to make it clear that she would always be welcome in his office, "Gaara, I..."

Tenten didn't say anything else, she didn't wait for him to answer or anything like that either. Or she did expect an answer, but a very different one, because the next thing she had done was to close the distance between them and be the one kissing him. His reaction was instantaneous, responding to the contact, her lips were even softer than he had come to imagine.

"I thought..." he said as soon as they broke apart, "I thought you weren't interested in me."

"Yes, yes I am," the brunette kissed him again, but now in a more demanding way, "I've liked you for a long time," she didn't let him speak, her tongue being now the one that sought for him to reciprocate in the same way. He could almost swear he had heard her sigh as he coupled the kiss.

One of his hands went to her face, lightly caressing her cheek to which Tenten tilted her head, making the kiss that much better in the process. Just once he was going to say that he didn't hate the rain, if it wasn't for this one he wouldn't be in that situation at that moment. All of his senses were focused on the brunette, who without breaking the contact moved up further so that she could straddle him, resting her hands on his chest.

At first he had felt somewhat restrained, but the more time he spent with her on his lap the more his hands struggled to want to move and caress her. Shyly he raised one of his hands to rest it on her waist, to which she arched and that increased the pressure on a certain part of his anatomy. Automatically his other hand also went to her waist, sliding it to Tenten's back.

At that moment he had to break the kiss because it was impossible for him to breathe, seeing her smiling and blushing, the next thing being that she was starting to kiss his neck. He didn't want to listen to his common sense, much less remember the words of his brother who had told him so many times to stay away from her.

He exhaled heavily as he felt her slide her hands down his chest, undoing the buttons of his shirt to push it aside, he was just enjoying what was happening, enjoying the soft nibbles he was receiving on his now bare shoulder and down the length of his neck. For his part his hands had sought out the beginning of Tenten's blouse, reaching under it so he could touch her breasts without finding the slightest sign of displeasure. But when he removed the blouse the brunette stopped what she was doing, staring at him.

"Too fast?" he was trying to regain his cool head, struggling to stop the blood from circulating to his lower body. They'd barely shared a kiss and already they were undressing each other.

"No, it's just..." Tenten seemed to think, she wasn't covering herself or seemed embarrassed by the position they were in, "sometimes I sleep in the living room, when I have to stay studying or I want to watch a movie late and I don't want to wake up Yumiko when I enter the bedroom, I sleep here..."

"I don't get it," he admitted, because it was strange for him to think about going to bed while Tenten's daughter was there.

"What I mean is that this is a sofa bed," he raised an eyebrow, "we could be more comfortable," at the lack of response on his part, Tenten drew him to her while moving the back of the furniture, he just held her by the waist because for a moment he feared she would fall. A click was heard and they both straightened up while the backrest fell completely, "better, don't you think?"

It was a rhetorical question, because she kissed him again while indicating him to lie down. That allowed him to let his hands move more freely over her body, with one he was caressing her breasts and with the other her ass, caressing her over her pants. Until he decided to take them both to try to open the garment, managing to slip one of his hands between them and under the panty, hearing her moan audibly when he touched that area that was wet.

Tenten hadn't lagged behind, while alternating between kissing him or licking his neck and chest, she had opened his pants and ran her hand just above his erection, repeating the movement a couple of times before getting off the couch. This time he didn't think they were going too fast or that she wanted them to stop, which he would have no problem accepting. And he didn't believe any of that because before he thought anything of it Tenten had grabbed the edge of his pants and boxer shorts, her goal being to get them out of the way. She had finished undressing herself as well, though she didn't let him see much of her because she had climbed back onto his lap.

"Gaara..." he heard her whisper right in his ear as he increased the caress he was giving on her intimacy, taking advantage of the absence of clothes in his way, "Gaara, please..." was a plea followed by a new moan, to which he had to use all his willpower not to give in immediately, especially since she was still on top of him and it would be very easy to penetrate her, "Gaa..."

"Just a little more..." Tenten hid her face in his neck, moaning again and moving her hips slightly to adjust to the rhythm his fingers were setting. The sound she tried to stifle as she reached orgasm had been simply exquisite, feeling the brunette shiver slightly, "I need..."

"What's wrong?" the brunette had partially recovered and was caressing his member.

"My wallet," he managed to utter with the little common sense he had left, it wouldn't be difficult for him to get carried away by the way she was touching him, "in my wallet there are..."

He had lost count of the times he had told Kankuro to stop putting condoms in his wallet, while he was a man and had needs, he had never quite liked casual sex, so these were unnecessary. He would take them out and a few days later when he went to pay for his coffee in the morning, he would discover that they were there again, sometimes he could even swear that his brother found it amusing to alternate the choices. The last time he had taken out watermelon flavored ones, there had also been colored ones and even ones that glowed in the dark.

But that had been the reason he had asked for his wallet, his first option was to trust that as always his brother had replaced them, hopefully with normal ones. His second option in case for once in his life Kankuro had decided to obey him in not putting condoms in his wallet was to continue their night in another way, even without penetration they could both have pleasure. Because he didn't consider not using anything an option, the 'coitus interruptus' wasn't reliable and he also didn't have enough sanity at the time to try to resort to this one.

"Chocolate," a curse echoed in his mind at the implication of that word, "I love chocolate," Tenten climbed back on top of him, "but..." skillfully the latex was slid over his member, "do you mind if we leave that part for later?"

The nod was only with his head, kissing the brunette who had already settled so that he only had to lift his hips a little, sliding gently inside her as they both stifled their mutual moan in the kiss.

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She woke up when she heard the door to her apartment being closed, she was dimly remembering what had happened the night before when she heard a car being started and then driving away. So she sat up on the sofa bed to check that she was alone and Gaara's clothes were nowhere to be found anymore.

She could excuse herself that she didn't recognize herself for what she had done, that she didn't know what she was thinking when she had decided to sleep with him, but the truth was that she would be lying through her teeth. As much as she had repeated to herself that her priority was her daughter and that she had done the right thing by refusing the kiss earlier, she regretted her choice that afternoon and her attitude afterwards. Yes, her daughter was her priority and she had spent most of her pregnancy and Yumiko's current age just being a mother, focusing entirely on that, but she was young and hadn't stopped being a woman.

She was a woman and it was partly normal to desire, to want to be with someone. She had never in her life had casual sex nor did she think herself capable of such a thing, in fact Gaara was the second man she had slept with at her young age. She also wasn't sure if what they had done was classified as casual sex or not, meaning they had no relationship officially, but he wasn't a complete stranger. The redhead was someone she trusted, even if she now felt disgruntled that she woke up alone and that he had left the apartment without saying goodbye.

She didn't want to think that she should have asked him what it meant what they had done, maybe for him it was usual for that kind of encounter and she was being naïve for not accepting it from the beginning. Besides that her displeasure was also fueled by the way he had hugged her when they finished their intercourse, by that sweet kiss before going to sleep. She cursed to herself as she got up, regardless of the meaning of her night it was time to get up and devote herself to her daughter.

Yumiko was just waking up, looking in her direction and stretched out her arms to be pulled out of the crib when she opened the door. She quickly put on a pajama dress and then she did lift her up and kissed her forehead all at once, it was Saturday and they would spend the whole day together. As the tub filled she organized the living room, returning the sofa bed to its normal position and folding the blanket she used to keep there, picking up her clothes that were all over the floor in the process.

It had been a quick bath she had given her daughter, showering herself as well in a hurry before going to the bedroom together. The weather forecast said that it wouldn't snow that day, but it would be quite windy, so she looked for warm clothes, in the afternoon they would have to go out to the supermarket for several shortages, among those normal cookies. She sighed as she walked to the kitchen, she wasn't going to wear herself out thinking about Gaara, nor the fact that despite all the time they had been talking they had never exchanged phone numbers, so she couldn't even expect him to call her.

It was frustrating, but at the same time she told herself that before the day before they had gone a couple of weeks without talking, so probably if it had been something casual and nothing else they would still be far apart. She took a deep breath, she definitely didn't want to think about it, she would do it when the College started again and she could find out what his attitude was going to be. With that conviction she took the bag of milk out of the fridge to warm it up a bit and then she would mix it with oatmeal for Yumiko's breakfast, she was about to chop a pear too when she heard the door of the apartment open.

"I thought you would still be sleeping," Gaara had returned, he had in one hand a cardboard stand with 2 glasses and in the other a huge bag with several food containers, "I brought hot chocolate and... well, something for breakfast," she had been speechless when she saw him back, "is something wrong?" she shook her head, "are you sure?"

"Yes, it's just..." she wasn't sure how to feel, "I'll get the other chair."

She usually ate in the living room, although she sat in the dining table to spoon Yumiko in her special chair when necessary. For that very reason the other chair she had bought the dining table with was in her bedroom covered with clean clothes that she hadn't folded.

"I brought you pancakes with scrambled eggs and bacon, also a blueberry muffin," she smiled because he had remembered that she liked that flavor, "there's also some mini animal pancakes for Yumiko and... well, I didn't know what else a girl of her age eats."

"I'll serve them to her with some fruit and a glass of milk," she put the chair back in place, "make yourself comfortable," she went back to the kitchen to turn off the milk so she could chop up the pear from before putting it on a plate.

Gaara had taken the food out of the bag and she couldn't help but smile when she saw that indeed the pancakes for her daughter were shaped like different animals, she didn't know that there was that option in the breakfast places.

"Hey," she whispered next to him before sitting down, "thanks."

"You don't have to thank me," Gaara answered her, shortening the distance between them to give her a sweet kiss, a very very sweet kiss.

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All corrections and comments are always well received, they help me improve a lot.

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Regards, Sally K.