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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 12. Pressure

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Upon entering the house, she peeked into the room and saw that Toshio was still asleep. Should she wake him up at once? How would she tell him the news? she went to the living room and sat on the couch hugging her knees and trying to assimilate the new situation in which she found herself. Many times in her childhood she had dreamed of being a mother, when she decided to be a shinobi she knew that her career would be her priority, and once she had achieved recognition for being a good kunoichi she might consider having children, but that was before she started her relationship with Neji.

Neji had started to like her since she was 14 and her hormones began to awaken, but she was unable to do anything about it, and so it was for a few years. They both went on with their lives, they were A class jōnin and were to start preparing to apply for their promotion to S class, Neji would probably go on his way to be ANBU. They trained on occasion, until she asked him to help her improve, she knew that with sporadic training it wouldn't be possible, and though she hated to admit it, he had a higher level than her. She thought he would refuse, but fortunately he agreed and from then on in every free space they had between their missions they started training.

She still liked him, she had recently turned 18 and they had been training together for a year. In hand to hand combat she felt at a disadvantage, not only because he surpassed her in strength but because she could swear she could feel electric sparks every time she was very close to him, that her skin would bristle with any rubbing they had, that was another big reason why she liked to wear the baggy clothes.

It was even worse when they argued after the fights, they should make a training plan focused on improving them both, but Neji was stubborn and believed that he didn't have any faults, so they directly went from physical to verbal fights, and argued quite a lot when they were planning the next trainings. She used to find herself hyperventilating and with her senses exacerbated when they started those disputes, many times wishing to finally kiss him, other times just wishing to hit him. One day she couldn't take it anymore and kissed him, it was a brush of lips to which he didn't respond, and she noticed that she had made a big mistake and what she felt wasn't reciprocated, so she ran away.

At the next training session she tried to pretend that nothing was wrong, Neji was as expressionless as ever and hadn't made any comment about it, so she decided she wouldn't try again. After the training was over they were in another discussion when he kissed her, neither of them said anything and went home. That's how things continued until that first time they had sex. Little by little they started to become even closer, going beyond the barrier of friendship, their conversations started to go beyond just training or missions, to the personal realm, to their dreams, likes and goals.

Before that first time she cursed every time she had to go to the hospital to be injected with hormones to avoid pregnancy, as all kunoichis were forced to take contraceptives, as she considered them unnecessary. But she was infinitely grateful for that because, carried away by the heat of the moment, neither of them thought of taking any additional protective measures. A part of her began to dream that some years later they could talk about having a family.

Until that day she had not stopped thinking that if she had children it would be with Neji, she had been stupid not to discard that dream from the moment she agreed to marry someone else and signed the marriage certificate, besides having realized that when she left Konoha, she hadn't had the contraceptive injection again, and being married to Toshio it wouldn't be provided without her husband's request. Likewise, her cycle was so irregular that so far she hadn't noticed any change in it. She sighed with resignation, dawn had arrived with her still awake. Slowly she got up and went to bed to wait for Toshio to wake up.

He woke up and got up to go to the bathroom, she sat on the edge of the bed to face him, when her husband returned to the room he looked her up and down, reproachfully.

"In the wee hours you sneaked out," he asserted, "You went out to see him," he began to walk towards her with a threatening look. "Right?"

"No, Toshio-sama," she answered hurriedly, noticing that she had not taken off the clothes she had gone out with.

"Tenten," he grabbed her chin and forced her to stand up, "I've been very patient with your... 'friend', but don't you dare for a second to underestimate me, and think that I'm stupid."

"I did go out," as a reflex action she brought her hands to her abdomen to protect it, "but not to that."

"Darling, you are pushing me to the limit of my temper, I have done my best to make this union bearable for you too, but you are taking attributions that don't belong to you," he squeezed her chin even more. "Are you forgetting that the alliance with this silly village depends on this marriage?" she shook her head, "Where did you go?"

"I went to the Hokage's office," her eyes began to water.

"What did you have to talk to her about?" with his other hand he grabbed her arm tightly, "you know perfectly well that your duty is to talk to me first."

"I wasn't feeling well, I went with her because... I..." she paused, "I'm pregnant," she said with the air left in her lungs.

"Are you what?" he released her as if she burned, she could feel the surprise in his voice

"Toshio-sama," she spoke trying not to let her voice crack, and putting her hands on his chest in an attempt not only to calm him down, but to calm herself, "we are going to have a baby."

"Are you sure?" the threat had disappeared from his voice.

"Tsunade gave me a quick checkup, and that was her diagnosis, but if we wish she can give me a more rigorous examination to determine the exact number of weeks."

"I will tell those who are watching to let her know that we will go to her office, Tsunade's medical knowledge is legendary," he hugged her and kissed her forehead. "When we return to our village I will have you checked by our doctors."

She nodded and got into the shower, when she got out she could see in the mirror the huge dark circles under her eyes thanks to having spent the whole night awake, she snorted while she covered them with a little makeup. In other times she would have taken a soldier's pill and that was it, but in her new condition this would be impossible. For breakfast her stomach only received a bit of fruit and nothing else.

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When they arrived at the Hokage's office, Shizune showed them the corridor they had to follow to get directly to the hospital.

"Toshio, Tenten!" Tsunade greeted them from the end of the corridor.

"Good morning, Tsunade, thank you for checking on my wife last night."

"It was nothing, it is my duty to watch over the safety and well-being of everyone in the village."

Once in the doctor's office, she undressed to put on the gown that was given to her to perform an ultrasound and lay down on the stretcher, Toshio sat next to her holding her hand and looking at the monitor. The gel was applied and the transducer touched her stomach, on the monitor she saw some incomprehensible spots.

"There it is," said Tsunade pointing to a spot on the screen, "here you can see the embryo, if you allow me," she said pressing some buttons on the keyboard, while she moved the transducer, "I will take the measurements."

"Is it developing well?" she asked, thinking about how careless she had been during that time without knowing her condition.

"Everything is in order, if you can see this," she pointed to another spot, "here you can see that it is starting to form its limbs," she pressed a couple more buttons and then continued, "as far as you can see and measure on the ultrasound, your pregnancy is 9 weeks old."

"9 weeks? That's 2 months," spoke Toshio.

"That's right, a little over 2 months. As I said, you are in the first trimester," Tsunade turned off the machine, handed her a tissue to wipe herself, "my recommendation given the gestation time is to start immediately a vitamin supplement."

"We will evaluate that with the doctors in my village."

"Tenten, are you still feeling nauseous?" she looked at Toshio, then at the Hokage and nodded, "I am going to give you some food suggestions that can help you with that, it would also be good for you to rest. It is for the baby's sake."

"Thank you very much, Tsunade," he helped her up so she could go take off her robe, "I'll go get ready to attend the exams, Tenten will be at home resting. I know she had a long night."

"I'll see you there," the blonde got up and took off the white robe she had on over her normal clothes. "Congratulations."

Tsunade left the office, she dressed quickly and they left for the apartment, when they arrived she put on pajamas and got into bed, she felt emotionally and physically exhausted.

"I hope that tomorrow you can accompany us to the exams," Toshio told her sitting next to her as an order while stroking her hair, she smiled in response.

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She was getting tired, she was falling asleep when her husband left the place, her mind wandered between anxiety, uncertainty and terror that she felt a while before when Toshio had intimidated her, at that moment she could notice that he was much stronger than she had managed to dazzle before. She was sure that just married she could have fought and beat him, but she no longer felt that certainty, besides the warning about the alliance with the village would make her continue to obey quietly.

Would Toshio ask for Neji to be changed from the security team? She turned to lie in the fetal position, and just before she fell asleep a voice in the back of her head told her to do the math, how many weeks ago had she said goodbye to Neji in the Lightning village?.

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

Hope you like it!

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Regards, Sally K.