Author's Notes: Here's where having read "Crossing the Acheron" will most come in handy because you will understand some of the cut scenes I've included. If you haven't read that yet, I suggest you do so before continuing, otherwise I'm not responsible for the resulting confusion. ;)
The Bridge to Mnemosyne
Chapter Three
"I'm going to keep this baby."
Sakura looked up from the notes she was making in Tenten's file, her pen coming to a halt against the sterile, pre-printed sheets that spoke in glaring black letters of things Sakura might never experience. She turned on her stool slightly to glance at the other girl, taking in the dark-haired kunoichi's firm expression. There was a tone in her voice though that said she was trying to convince herself.
Sitting her pen down, Sakura linked her hands together and searched Tenten's face, trying to find a bit of happiness tucked into those tired eyes. There was none, not yet anyway. The news was probably too fresh for her to take any joy out of her condition, and there were certainly obvious obstacles to this new development. The birth of a Hyuuga was not something that would go unnoticed.
Clearing her throat, Sakura kept her voice low and calm. "Of course you'll keep the baby, Tenten-san, but you must realize that you will eventually have to stop training during the last months of your pregnancy." Even Sakura knew that Tenten's greatest wish was to become as strong as Tsunade. "I'm not trying to change your mind, but it's not going to be easy for-"
"For someone like me," Tenten cut in abruptly, but her voice was so soft the words had no sting. "For a woman alone."
Sakura leaned forward, earnest and concerned. "Is there anyone you might go to live with? A relative? Perhaps Lee-san could-"
Tenten made a negative motion with one hand. "He's done enough for me. I can't rely on him forever." She took a quivering breath. "I'll raise Neji's child on my own if I have to." She laid one hand on her still flat belly unconsciously and Sakura mentally smiled to see the protective motion. It was a good sign.
"What about the Hyuugas? I'm sure they would want to know about this."
Something in Tenten's face tightened and she looked suddenly afraid. "Sakura, please, I don't want them to know. Not yet. The things Neji…" She pressed her lips together briefly, stifling whatever she was going to say. "I just can't face them right now."
Sakura nodded slowly. "I can't tell them anything about your condition that you don't want released." She hesitated. "Still, I think it might be wise to talk to them. You need support and the Hyuugas are very defensive of their members. You would be safe with them."
"I have some time, don't I? Before I have to decide."
The older girl looked so lost that Sakura couldn't help but feel sorry for her, her heart aching for Tenten's situation. It was a cruel fate that deprived her of her child's father and forced her to face Hyuuga Hiashi alone, without even proof of Neji's love to shield her from those all-seeing eyes.
"You have some time," Sakura answered gently. "You won't start showing for awhile." She swiveled back to her desk to aligning Tenten's papers, closing the file as she continued, "I'll keep your secret, Tenten-san, but in return I want you to come to me if you have any questions or problems." She turned again to smile cheerfully at the other girl. "And, of course, I want to be able to deliver the baby!"
For the first time since she had set foot into the hospital, a small smile crept onto Tenten's lips and a shadow of her former self brightened the room. It guttered out in the next instant like a spent candle, but Sakura was pleased. As long as she could still smile, she would be alright.
"Thank you," she said, her eyes suspiciously shiny. Sakura stood and laid a hand on Tenten's shoulder.
"Can I get someone to take you home?"
Tenten slipped off the examination table, wavering a bit as she regained her balance. "No, I want to walk. It will give me time to think." She offered another pale smile. "I'm glad I came to you, Sakura. I guess I should listen to Lee more often." She bowed and Sakura returned the motion, watching the weapons expert then turn to leave, drifting through the bare hallway like a ghost.
Biting her lip, Sakura hugged Tenten's file to her chest, seeing so many parallels between them.
And suddenly grateful for the differences.
Staring at the bubbling, trickling water of the river, he listened intently to it's watery song. He thought, if he tried hard enough, he might hear a word in the ripples. It was a vain hope though.
The river didn't know his name either.
Tenten sat down on the park bench carefully, now hyper aware of her body and how much she had abused it in the last couple of weeks. She knew she looked thin and tired and beaten but that was going to change.
She had made her choice.
Letting the wind run invisible fingers through her hair, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath of fresh air, hoping to settle her mind and thoughts. It was still hard for her to believe, even though Sakura had confirmed her suspicion. She was pregnant with Neji's child. Neji's. There was something about that idea that brought warmth back to her cheeks and filled that aching gap in her soul a little.
"We're going to have a child," she whispered, hoping her words would reach him wherever he was. Maybe if she wished hard enough, they would wing their way to his side. Air hitched in her chest. "I'm going to be a mother."
That thought was almost absurd. Her, someone's mother? She who felt ungainly and awkward just handling a piece of china? How would she ever care for a small, helpless baby who would be completely dependent on her?
You need support…
She knew that, and she knew the best option would be to go the Hyuuga compound that instant and throw herself on their mercy, but something stopped her from getting to her feet and taking that first step. The same something that had shot through her when Sakura had mentioned going to the Hyuugas earlier, a stretched, panicky feeling that stole her breath. After everything she had learned about Neji's family, could she really take her child there? Most likely to be branded with the same curse Neji had always hated? On the other hand, they were her baby's family, and she would not be able to hide forever. All it would take was one Hyuuga member glancing at her with the Byakugan activated and it would be over.
In the end, she supposed her child, as an inheritor of his father's Byakugan, would need the protection only the Hyuugas could offer. She would have to go to them at some point.
"But not yet," she murmured, linking her fingers together over her stomach. If only for this moment, I want to remember what it feels like not to be alone.
In the tree branches above her, a sparrow sang sweetly and her eyes filled with tears.
She didn't understand why.
He liked to count the birds in the morning, something about it calming him, giving him a sense of rightness. He asked Seichiro once why that might be. The old fisherman had lifted his head from tending the breakfast fire and answered in his low, gravelly voice.
"Birds know the taste of true freedom. Maybe you do, too."
In the weeks that followed, Tenten made an effort to find herself again. She drew pack the curtains in her windows, blinking briefly in the bright sunshine that dripped inside, melting over her furniture and floors. She opened the windows as well and felt something oppressive slip out, something she might have labeled "grief" and "longing" had she bothered to look at it. She didn't though. This new turn in her life required a certain amount of denial on her part.
She spent a full day cleaning her apartment and by the end of it, sitting on her couch with a broom over her knees, she laughed as she realized this was what Sakura had meant about "nesting". She shared the joke with Lee when he came over for dinner. He had been coming over regularly since he had learned she was pregnant, overjoyed with the prospect of being an honorary uncle. He usually brought groceries with him, saying she shouldn't overexert herself in her condition.
Tenten's "delicate condition" seemed to be a running theme between him and Gai-sensei. They wouldn't let her do target practice anymore, even though Gai really wasn't her teacher and Lee was not her teammate. The moment she even considered picking up a kunai they howled that she was going to do herself harm and to think of the baby. It might have annoyed her if she didn't know that this baby meant almost as much to them as it did to her. So she swallowed her sarcastic retorts and did her training in private. Lee and Gai kept on smiling.
And she found she could smile, too, once in a while, when the day was bright and her body felt heavy and sleepy and the world wasn't too clear. The nights were her enemies though, for they always brought her dreams of him, images that haunted her because she hated them and yet yearned for them, caught in a cycle of self torture. When the sun rose, she would breathe a sigh of relief, locking those memories away until the next twilight. It wasn't such a bad life though, and she figured out that she could still live it, which had initially come as a surprise to her. Neji was dead. He was dead and she could still walk and see and breathe.
How strange.
No one else seemed to think it was odd though, and so she carried on, watching mothers play with their children in the park and wondering if she would ever be as confident as they were. She listened to Lee dream aloud about Sakura and waved him goodbye when he went on missions. She allowed Gai to coddle her and boast to Kakashi that it was his kunoichi that got knocked up first. (Well, Gai had used the phrase "became an adult" but Tenten had been a little more realistic.) Needless to say, Kakashi had patted her on the shoulder in pity, oblivious to Gai crowing his victory in the background.
After that, she began to understand that it wasn't only Gai and Lee who cared about her. The few others who knew her secret often checked in on her, too, especially when she began to show. Of course, that time in her pregnancy also brought hazards and one of them, the most feared one, came to her on a clear Konoha morning in late fall, when the air was crisp and the children ate apples with caramel. She had risen early that day because Sakura had asked her to come in for a check-up. She and the medic-in-training had become friends over the course of Tenten's pregnancy, something neither of them had thought would ever happen, but it was clear that Tsunade-sama's influence was sharpening Sakura like one sharpens a katana and that made Sakura a much easier person for Tenten to talk to, she who knew weapons better than anyone else.
Anxious as she always was before an appointment with Sakura, she had been hurrying around the apartment looking for a scarf when her doorbell rang, somehow stern and strong in the silence of dawn. Without glancing through the peephole, she opened it and came face to face with the two people she had hoped would never grace her doorstep, not until she was ready.
Hinata dropped her hand, looking nervous and uncomfortable, a frightened deer. It was the man behind her though that Tenten's eyes met and held, her fingers trembling on the door handle.
Hyuuga Hiashi inclined his head ever so slightly, the tiniest of motions, but Tenten's eyes widened as if he had bowed to her. His voice, when he spoke, was calm and cordial and utterly frank.
"Tenten-san, if you have a moment, I would like to talk to you."
"About what?" Her mouth was dry.
His look was firm and yet somehow patient. "About you moving into the Hyuuga compound."
Tenten didn't make her appointment that day.
To Be Continued…
