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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 13. From afar

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Everyone in the village had been talking about Tenten's wedding reception that night, he had made sure to take the matching shift so he would have a valid excuse for not attending.

He was standing nearby keeping guard when Gai approached him.

"Neji!" shouted his sensei, "it's the reception of our beautiful flower, Lee and I already danced with her, it would be a nice touch if all of us in the team danced with her."

"Gai-sensei, I'm on duty," he answered getting down from the tree he was standing in.

"Neji," Gai spoke to him seriously, "it's not a request, if necessary I will drag you to that hall."

"It's not pertinent Gai-sensei, if you allow me I must continue," his sensei extended his arm to prevent him from passing.

"I'm still stronger than you, so do me a favor and go to that hall."

"Hmph," was his terse answer as he started walking, as he entered he could see Tenten dancing with Chōji.

"Here he is!" said Gai giving him a not so subtle push to move forward, the atmosphere between the two of them could be cut with a knife, "don't stay there, let's dance!"

"Neji," she greeted him.

"Tenten," he answered extending his hand to her, she took it and started the melody.

"I... I didn't know that we were coming to the village," her voice was a whisper.

"Tsunade didn't want me to be in the village for the visit," he confessed.

"What are you talking about?" There was no eye contact, she was trying to make them notice that they were talking.

"I requested the mission," he paused smiling gloomily, "maybe I'm a masochist."

"Neji, I..." a fake cough made her keep silent, it couldn't be someone else.

"Can I have the next piece? I'd like to get my wife back if it's not too much trouble," Toshio was looking straight at him, exactly the same way as on the wedding day.

"Of course, I must get back to my work."

Before leaving the place he could see out of the corner of his eye what looked like a reprimand from Toshio to Tenten. He left the place and continued with his work.

Although he was on his break, and no longer followed their orders, the Clan insisted that he must be present at the opening fight of the chunin exams. The rules had changed that year, in his opinion to favor several of the mediocre genins who often showed up and then complained about the severity of the trials, they were going to start filling up with weak chunin.

The first match was with the Lightning village, and he watched carefully to see the level and fighting techniques used by the visitor. The fight was close, and the participant from the Lightning village made a jutsu that he recognized without hesitation, it was one of Tenten's weapon jutsu! And the young man's aim had left no room for doubt, from where he was watching the fight he couldn't see her reaction, but he could imagine her triumphant look. Inwardly he was glad that she could use her ninja techniques. Many times she had mentioned that she thought her plan B might be to become a weapons teacher. At the time of the lunch break he headed home and caught a couple of hours of sleep before his shift started again.

From the designated place to keep watch he could perfectly see the main entrance, the forest behind it and the road leading to the village, so he was surprised when he saw Tenten come out of the dwelling and turn her gaze to the Hokage residence, starting to head there, he started to walk behind her. When they reached the place, she headed for the office, and he climbed up to the window to listen from outside. Whether or not Tsunade noticed his presence, the woman didn't say anything to him. Because he had accompanied Tenten to that consultation he could hear everything, his fists clenched involuntarily when he heard the news.

She came out of the place, he accompanied her from the roof, those steps were hesitant, as if Tenten didn't know where to go. She stood still from one moment to the next

"Did you hear everything?" she asked, looking at him, so he affirmed only with a nod of his head, "I don't know what to do."

"Talk to your husband," he answered her, Tenten shook her head in denial starting to cry so he descended from the roof, she hugged him and he hugged her back leaving her crying. She used to cry when she was very frustrated or things didn't go as she had planned, and most of the time he was her tear cloth. Gradually the crying stopped.

"Sometimes I think this is all a dream, that I'm playing a character for a while and that I'll wake up before all this happened... but..." she ran her hands over her face to remove the trace of tears and brought her hands to her abdomen, "this makes it real, this... I never thought this would happen."

"Tenten, I wish I could offer you a solution." He said giving her a light caress on her cheek, he really wanted to be able to help her any way he could. "But just like you I can't do anything either."

"I know, I must go back and talk to Toshio," her tone of voice was resigned. He nodded and they continued on their way in silence.

When they returned there was no word of farewell, she simply took a deep breath as if gathering momentum and entered. For a moment he allowed himself to be curious and pay attention to the sounds inside the dwelling, the shift change was at dawn and he had heard nothing.

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The sun was streaming through the windows illuminating every corner of the kitchen, he could feel the warmth of summer while they were having breakfast happily, a baby with brown hair and white eyes was humming and playing with the food, Tenten's clothes were covered with food but she didn't care in the least, she just alternated between eating a bite and making the baby eat something, always with a smile on her face.

He woke up covered in sweat, if there was a way to turn off the dreams, he would without hesitation do it. He had his short rest accompanied by those torturous dreams that were already habitual, he observed the clock on his bedside table, at that hour Tenten should have already shared the news with her husband. He quickly got ready to start his work.

A bird outside his window indicated that Shikamaru needed him, but the meeting place wasn't in the fighting arena where they should meet at that hour, but near the house they were guarding. He headed there.

"Neji," greeted Shikamaru, "the plans for today have changed," straight to the point, "Shino is in the arena accompanying Toshio, and Tenten is inside the residence."

"Did something happen?" he asked worried.

"Change of plans, Tenten is pregnant and apparently must have rest for a while," he nodded and Shikamaru took a puff on his cigarette, "since it's now two places, Kiba joined the surveillance team," the Nara clicked his tongue. "The pompous lord very upset spoke this morning with the Hokage and explicitly requested her that you be removed from the night shift, and that your escorts be limited to the combat arena and not his residence."

"Understood."

"Neji," Shikamaru began to speak, with his usual lazy tone, "this mission is little less than boring but quite tedious and I shouldn't ask things that don't interest me... tsk," another puff on the cigarette, "nothing, forget it."

"Tenten went in the wee hours to the Hokage's office, there Tsunade gave her the news," he feigned the same disinterest as Shikamaru. "Maybe the wives of the pompous lords should ask permission to go out," with her ex-boyfriend-ex-lover in the wee hours, he added in his mind.

"I don't doubt it," Shikamaru took a last puff on the cigarette and the butt disappeared, "please head to the fighting arena."

He nodded and left the place, he coordinated with Shino the surveillance spots. From his vantage point he kept an eye on Toshio. His instinct told him the first time he didn't like him, and no, it wasn't the fact that the man was Tenten's husband, now his instinct was screaming at him that Toshio was a dangerous person. Tenten was afraid of him even if she did not admit it, he had seen him reprimand her, she was afraid in Tsunade's office for doing something without consulting him beforehand. Tenten didn't have the profile of a submissive wife who let herself be mistreated by a partner and continued in the relationship, but the circumstances and conditions of that marriage were different, and she could be at a clear disadvantage, was it only because of the risk involved in breaking the alliance with the other village? Was it fear of the man's reaction to the unexpected pregnancy?

"Toshio-san!" shouted from afar Ino and Sakura waving their hands, they approached him and hugged him, "Congratulations on the baby!"

"Thank you very much, Ino, Sakura," Toshio answered, if he was bothered by the confidence they were taking it didn't show at that moment.

"9 weeks, it took you a long time for that heir to be conceived!" said Ino almost shouting, Toshio laughed. "Can we go to visit Tenten?"

"Tenten is resting, it is important to rest because she is not yet finished the first trimester," Ino and Sakura made sad faces.

"Please, we promise not to make her get up, nor make her do any effort. We only want to congratulate her."

"All right, I will let you do it," they gave a little shout and Toshio pointed a finger at them, "but you will have to do me a favor."

"Sure, Toshio-san, anything."

"Hand her a note for me," the man motioned to the people accompanying him, who handed him pencil and paper. "I want her to know I miss her."

"That's very romantic," they said with a goofy smile.

"My wife just made me the happiest man in the world, the least I can do is give her this," the note was folded and apparently sealed. "Won't tire her out too much, please."

"We won't!" they said in unison and hugged him goodbye.

As Toshio turned his back to them he could see the look on his face, it was angry. Toshio was a perfect diplomatic representative of his village who had been born in a silver cradle and appeared harmless. But he knew there was something else beneath that facade.

He returned his attention to the fight that was taking place as he ruminated in his mind. Tenten had been married a little over 6 months and was 9 weeks pregnant. Hadn't he been in the Lightning village about 2 and a half months ago?

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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.