.

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

.

Enjoy.

.

Chapter 5. Marriage

.

The room was gigantic and was divided in two, she could almost assure that her old house would fit in there, and there would even be plenty of room. At the entrance there was a room with three pieces of furniture surrounding a tea table, and in front of the table there was a beautiful fireplace. To one side there were other doors behind which was a beautiful dressing table all in matching red wine tones.

Slowly she began to undo her hair, which had been extremely uncomfortable and it was time to get rid of it. She walked to the dressing table, and placed on it all the buckles she was removing. Perhaps it was because the blood was circulating in her head again or simply because the reflection of the mirror showed exactly what she had pretended to ignore, behind her was a gigantic bed that occupied a good part of the room.

She was frozen in front of the image that the mirror showed her, to the point that she didn't feel her husband coming toward her.

"You look scared," she opened her eyes wide, "you shouldn't be," he slowly moved away and went to the bed, beckoning her to sit next to him, she mechanically obeyed, standing in front of him, unable to do anything else, "calm down," he spoke to her in a calm voice, "I won't do anything to you," she couldn't stop every muscle in her body from tensing and getting ready to run, "I know everything about you, Tenten," she looked at him in fear, and he again motioned for her to sit down, so she complied.

"What do you mean Toshio-sama?" she finally muttered.

"I know you don't want to be here," she was overwhelmed by those words, "that you were born and raised in the Leaf village but your family wasn't from there and according to their traditions you didn't have a surname before, that they were merchants and died in a fire in another village, that you attended the ninja academy and that your team sensei is Gai as well as your teammates are Lee and... Neji," he said that name with a weird tone, "that you are 22 years old, but you don't have the slightest idea of my age, and of course," he paused, "that you are not a virgin," she looked away trying to hide her reaction, would that last one entail any punishment? "I sent you to investigate, it's natural that I would want to know more about my wife."

"Excuse me, Toshio-sama, I don't know what to say," he started to laugh, "I don't know anything about you."

"Don't worry, I promise you that we will have time to change it," after saying that he stood up and started to walk away, "by the way, I also know why you are scared, and I should clarify that you should not worry. I will not force you to have sex tonight because believe it or not, you're not the only one who was forced to this and who had an exhausting day; but I must tell you that sooner or later we will have it," he looked at her sideways and she nodded slightly, "now it's time to sleep."

And without further ado he retired to the bathroom leaving her alone to finish undoing her hairstyle, and take off the ostentatious and heavy kimono, while she remembered the most important tips from her quick 'etiquette' classes before the wedding.

- Always tell him Toshio-sama - Don't address him in familiar terms until he gave her permission - Do absolutely everything he asked her to do without objection - Always be smiling - Never raise her voice - Never make complaints. The best summary for what they told her was to be the 'perfect happy wife'.

And what they emphasized the most to make it perfectly clear to her was what was related to sex

- Regardless of the place, the time or her mood, she should always be willing to have sex.

She smiled at that memory, avoiding laughing so as not to have to explain herself, she went to bed in the pajamas designated for the wedding night, and noticed her husband's eyes fixed on her, it was undeniable that there was desire in him.

"You have a pretty smile," he spoke from the other side of the bed, "I hope to see it more often," after saying that he got into bed and turned his back to her, she imitated him and lay down on her side of the gigantic bed, and got ready to sleep, "by the way," he murmured as if talking to himself, "you are beautiful."

Despite not feeling anything for him she couldn't help blushing.

.

The next day she began what would be her routine as the wife of the feudal's son.

Getting up, bathing, putting on a kimono not as elaborate as the one from her wedding but almost as heavy or some elaborate dress, undeniably beautiful but not at all comfortable especially if compared to her training clothes to which she wasn't allowed to return, her hair was simply held to the sides with a pair of buckles making it fall loose and in waves down her back, or in a braid to one side, and finally the make-up used to be something natural. In case of an important meeting they would choose her outfit, they would make her an elaborate hairstyle and a stronger make-up than she was used to. When she was ready she would go with her husband to the dining room to have breakfast with the feudal, and in several occasions one or another important personage of the village.

After that she had a short free time in which she was taken to the library to be entertained with the endless number of books about the history of the village of Lightning, also because of the position she had acquired she should know perfectly the history of the village. Then it was time for lunch, so again she went to the dining room, after that some days she had to have tea with other wives of important men or accompany her husband on a tour of the village or social event, again free time that she could use as she wanted, and as she didn't know what else to do she went to the library again, and finally dinner. Once in a while they would attend a gala dinner.

2 months had passed since the wedding and although her life wasn't the hell she imagined, she couldn't say she was happy. She couldn't help it, without knowing why a part of her felt empty. Although perhaps she could explain it.

On their wedding night her husband promised her that they would get to know each other better, but the truth was that he barely looked at her or spoke to her, and the few occasions he did was when they were in public besides the occasional light kiss on the lips or on the cheek and holding her hand or hugging her around the waist, but this was obviously just for show in front of everyone. She wanted something more, she was starting to need to feel loved, she needed attention. She ruminated over and over again that she couldn't live that way forever.

It was funny to think that many other victims of forced marriages were happy not to have to share private time with their assigned partner, but she was different. She knew that it was her new life, and she wanted to do her best to be happy, or at least try. She sadly compared the 'publicity' of her relationships; with Neji although no one ever knew it she felt accomplished, on the other hand with Toshio everyone knew but she felt miserable. Although she tried to keep herself entertained she couldn't stop the Hyūga from intruding on her thoughts day after day.

That night she was feeling a little more irritable than usual, they were at a gala celebration and trays with liquor were passing from side to side, she took advantage of every time one passed by to have a drink, and she had no idea how many she was carrying but what she did know was that the alcohol was starting to build up and take effect on her.

"Toshio, my old friend!" greeted someone squeezing his hand, "and this is your beautiful wife," he looked her up and down without hiding even a little the areas where he stopped his gaze, "Wow! You hit the jackpot!"

"That's right," Toshio answered laughing with his friend while she tried to keep her smile, and not let the anger show in her eyes, that's how he was, a sea of pride for her beauty but alone he didn't speak to her.

"Let's toast to your perfect wife and marriage," he said to them as he handed them a glass to toast, she drank hers in one sip.

She took advantage of the fact that the attention wasn't on her and started to head towards the exit to leave or she was going to explode, but she didn't count that Toshio was holding her hand and instead of letting her go, he started to walk with her, another tray with liquor passed by her side and she took the opportunity to have another drink before leaving the room.

"What's the matter with you?" he asked annoyed as soon as they were outside, she hid her face while a tear escaped, "What's the matter with you?" his tone was now worried.

"I'm tired," she answered wiping away the treacherous tear.

"Do you want to leave?"

"Not from the meeting, that's not what I'm tired of," she said as if it was obvious, "I'm tired of pretending."

"Pretending?" he sounded surprised.

"Yes! Pretending!" her tone of voice rose higher than allowed and she earned a reproving look, but she didn't care, "pretending that we are a perfect marriage when we don't even talk, when I don't even feel you notice my presence when we are alone... when we don't even... we haven't even had a real kiss."

"It's the alcohol talking, Tenten," he concluded to turn his back to her, "I'll go inside to tell them we'll retire, and we'll talk about this in the morning."

When he took the first step back into the enclosure, she grabbed him forcefully by the clothes, pulling him to herself and colliding their lips.

The response was automatic and puzzled her a little, as he reciprocated the kiss immediately and with an intensity she hadn't expected, maybe it was the liquor in her veins or there was simply no reason, but she put her hands around his neck to pull him closer and give him the depth she was looking for. He put his hands on her waist making her take a couple of steps backwards until she hit a wall on her back, the force of the impact made her open her mouth to let out a slight whine which he took advantage of to introduce his tongue in her mouth.

Her mind played a bad, or maybe a good, trick on her. Because suddenly the lips she felt weren't those of her husband, they were Neji's, it was Neji who was trying to devour her with that kiss, who was slowly releasing her obi to be able to slip his hands between her kimono, who was now caressing her back.

She felt him grab her ass, and lift her up to wrap her legs around his hips to start a delicious intimate rubbing, she needed to breathe so she broke the kiss but now he was attacking her neck, she just played burying her fingers in his hair and trying to keep her moans quiet. She let go of his hair to begin to loosen his suit when the door opened leaving the two of them standing there motionless.

"I-I-I'm...I'm sorry," a completely red man excused himself quickly, "I'm so sorry," he turned his back to them to go back in.

"Wait!" ordered Toshio while he released her, allowing her to stand up and try to remake her suit to cover herself, although he didn't move away from her as it was obvious he had a certain problem in his crotch that he had to hide. "Wait," he spoke now in a calm voice, "It's our fault, my wife and I should have gone to our bedroom... now I ask you to please forget what you saw, and when you go back inside excuse us with the other guests."

"No problem, Toshio," he answered with a smile while he tried to see her, as she was uselessly trying to hide, "have a good night," that sentence was said between laughs while the man was leaving.

Now she was clearly confused. Was all that caused by a simple clash of lips? Besides her mind was fuzzy trying to clarify exactly who she was about to have sex with in the middle of the hallway - Neji or Toshio? And she was trying to determine what decision he would make now, would he follow through or would he try to take it back for what happened? Without saying anything Toshio started walking towards the bedroom, and she picked up the obi from the floor to start following him, when they were in front of their room he opened the door to let her in.

She walked in and turned around so she could speak to him, but as soon as the door was closed he attacked her lips without letting her utter a word. Her mind was spinning in a confused tide and she started to wander back and forth between Toshio and Neji, but when she reciprocated the kiss she knew exactly why she was doing it. She wasn't doing it because she wanted to believe he was Neji but because of the opposite, because he was NOT.

And because of that, because maybe she wanted to feel that she was no longer the Hyūga's property, because maybe she wanted to feel that someone else could love her, or simply because it was too late to take it back, she started to undress the man in front of her.

.

.

.

.

Hi there!

I will try to update the story on Saturdays :).

.

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

Hope you like it!

.

Regards, Sally K.