A/N: This is my story for the 1st day prompt of Nejiten Month which was wedding/dance. It was supposed to be a quick one-shot but somehow it got out of hand. It always does, doesn't it?
It's a light-hearted story, that makes for a quick read so in my infinite grace I'm releasing all the chapters at once. I hope you'll have as much fun binge-reading as I had written it! And when you find something particularly funny please mention it to me! It's always nice to hear how certain passages have been received!
TW: mention of domestic violence in chapter 4, nothing explicit
Rated T for swearing and mild suggestive sexual scenes throughout the story but nothing explicit.
Four weddings and a funeral – Chapter 1
Hinata and Naruto's Wedding
"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."
Neji internally groaned as this sentence single-handedly condemned him to a lifetime of being Naruto's brother-in-law. But, oh well, the Hyuga took another look at his cousin's elated face.
Hinata is happy at last. Neji thought, unable to restrain the fond smile he had while clapping like the rest of the audience.
For the fifth time since the bridesmaids had walked down the aisle, Neji took another look at the maid of honour Hinata had chosen.
He was positive he had never ever met her before. But then again, this was probably because Hinata seldom invited friends over to the Hyuga Mansion, mainly since she had started renting an apartment downtown with her friends.
He did remember Sakura and Ino from their high school days. But he definitely does not remember ever seeing a brunette. Hinata had probably talked about her, but he was much ashamed to say he was not a very good listener when Hinata started babbling about all the stories and drama that went on in her sorority. Sorority in which Neji was sure she had met this girl.
Now, it was very unlike him to wonder so much about a woman, any other human being, really. Though, since this brown-haired woman had walked out on the aisle next to Sasuke in a silky qipao of the chosen bridesmaids' light blue, he had been entranced.
It was probably her smile. It gleamed brighter than the diamond's river earrings descending down her long slender neck. Or maybe it was her eyes, so rich in that chestnut colour, luminous and playful.
They had briefly caught his glance, and her grin stretched a bit wider, a bit more mischievous. Neji had already walked the aisle previously next to Sakura. Thus, as he was standing next to the other groomsmen, Shikamaru and Kiba, he had the leisure of observing the unknown girl continue her graceful walk until she stood next to Sakura.
"Keep it in your pants, Hyuga," Sasuke smirked at the pale-eyed man once he took place beside him.
Neji grunted in return.
The rest of the ceremony and the wedding party after went on wonderfully well, much to Hiashi's content.
Now that the wedding party was nearing its end, Neji took a well-deserved rest. He sat at an empty table while all the other guests had hurried to the dance floor, the only illuminated part of the ballroom.
But he didn't mind the dark. He actually enjoyed being in a place where he couldn't be found easily. His uncle had been running him and Hanabi down over every little detail of the event. He wanted the wedding to be perfect. That meant that any minor inconvenience must have been dealt hastily by either him, Hanabi or his father.
"My theatre friends are going to be here tonight, and they are real catty bitches." The older Hyuga had warned the three of them, hands on his hips. "Mostly that Goichi. Since I took the lead for the West Side Story rendition of our troop, he had been on my ass constantly." Hiashi grunted.
"I think he is simply trying to flirt with you." Hizashi thought out loud but only earned himself a dark glare coming from his twin.
Neji could never hide his utter amusement at his uncle's newfound liberation. Since the Hyuga twins' father had been put in a nursing home five years ago, the sons had been finally left to their own devices and free to do as they wished with their lives.
Almost immediately after, Hiashi Hyuga decided, at last, to accept and make public both his homosexuality and his long-hidden adoration for musicals. To that, the only reaction Neji Hyuga had was to wonder how his uncle balanced being the CEO of Hyuga Inc. while learning lyrics and choreographies for his amateur group theatre.
"Mind if I sit down?"
Neji turned to the woman, pointing to the chair next to him. Woman who happened to be the maid of honour he had so shamelessly stared at earlier during the wedding ceremony.
Neji nodded coolly.
"Ouf," came the sweet-sounding exhale next to him. "Those heels are killing me."
He turned around to see her delicate feet spring free from the strappy sequined high heels.
"I'm Tenten, by the way," She smiled warmly at him.
Tenten.
Yes, that did ring a bell. He was sure he heard Hinata pronounce this name many times while he nodded, pretending to be listening.
"Neji Hyuga." He replied formally as if he hadn't checked her out from head to toe a few hours ago.
"Yeah, I know." There was an unmistakable hint of sassiness in her laughing voice. "Hinata told me all about you." She added, her smile widening.
Neji raised a brow. "In good terms, I hope."
The brunette laughed again, the sound pure and bewitching like a ringing crystal. "Is there any other way Hinata talks about anyone?"
Neji smiled. "True."
She reciprocated his smile. "She loves you a lot, you know?" Her tone was softer.
Neji threw a glance at Hinata, who was in the middle of the dance floor, laughing delightfully at the grotesque moves her now-husband was making to the sound of early 2000s music.
"Yes, I do too." He admitted softly.
He doesn't know why he was so open about his affections towards his cousin to this stranger. He blamed it on the extra glasses of champagne he had indulged in. And the fact it was very late in the night.
"So," The brown-haired girl continued. "What do you do in life, Neji, except looking up and down innocent maid of honours making their way down the aisle?"
He nearly choked on his own saliva until he saw her teasing grin, and it was so contagious that he couldn't help but smirk back.
"I was…" He trailed for a second, trying to find any excuse for his earlier scrutinizing gaze. "Looking at your earrings. They're very sparkly."
They're very sparkly!? He exclaimed within. That's all you could come up with?
She gave him an assessing glance, her smile never leaving her eyes.
"Oh?" She exclaimed. "Pff, this old thing?" She waved it off. "Just a gift from my sugar daddy."
It was probably a bad idea to have taken a sip of champagne at this moment because he spat it out instantly.
"I beg your pardon?" He said.
She burst out laughing. "Gotcha." She winked. "It was a gift from Hinata to all of us." Her smile was knowing of his mistake.
Obviously, he should have chosen another excuse than a pair of earrings worn by all the bridesmaids to explain his earlier staring particularly directed at her.
"But thank you for thinking I could pull out being a sugar baby," Her eyes were gleaming with mischief as she slid one of her legs out of her qipao, extending seductively in front of him. "I do have the legs to draw a sugar daddy, don't you think?"
Neji tried to hide his fluster away, but the slight pink on his cheeks didn't go unnoticed by the girl who had a guilty pleasure in torturing him.
"What about this guy? Do you think he'd like me as a sugar baby?" She said, subtly pointing out an older man at the entrance of the ballroom.
"That's my father," Neji replied flatly, taking another sip of his drink.
He had to fight down the bubbling laughter that tried to escape when he saw her spit her drink at his statement.
"Oh, Lord." She gave him a sheepish smile, biting her bottom lip, trying to hold her threatening laughter in. "I'm so sorry. I thought this was Hinata's father, and well, since he isn't into women, the joke wrote itself."
Neji's smirk deepened. "Yes, well, our fathers are twin."
"Mmh," Her face set in a pensive pout. "I didn't know Hiashi had a twin."
"You're on a first-name basis with my uncle?" Neji raised a brow.
Few were the ones who could brag that they could call his uncle 'Hiashi.'
"Yes, of course," She waved it off. "I even helped him memorize his lines for his last musical."
"What?" This time Neji couldn't hold off his laugh, and Tenten laughed alongside him.
"So, how do you know, Hinata?" He asked, to his surprise, trying to prolong this conversation.
She raised her eyebrows. "I've been her best friend for the past five years." The laughter in her voice was ridiculing him. "Hinata told me how bad of a listener you were, but wow."
He tried to see any sign that he had offended her, but all he could read in her features was thorough amusement.
"So Hinata told me you were going to replace Hiashi one day?" She wondered out loud.
Neji nodded. "I just finished my MBA." He replied, taking another sip of his drink; the way her earnest eyes bore into him made his mouth dry.
She shook her head. "Not going to lie, I fear your kind."
He smirked. "How so?"
"It's the business bro attitude. Like earning your reputation around a keg kind of vibe. Kind of a douchebag, kind of a fuckboy..."
Tenten suddenly stopped, seemingly embarrassed at involuntarily having insulted the man she barely knew. But he only kept his smirk in place.
"So I take it you have met Kiba." He jabbed, surprised at himself that his snarky side came out so quickly while talking to her. Typically it was only something that appeared with close friends and family.
She doubled over laughter. "I dated the guy you mean." Her sly grin took him aback.
"You dated him?" He asked incredulously. She was far above Kiba's level, in his humble opinion.
She nodded, still grinning. "My first boyfriend, actually, in high school. It was a long time ago. We're good friends now."
He nodded. And as the evening went on, he surprised himself at opening more and more to this unknown girl.
From telling him about the girls' wild vacations in Suna two years back to how her twin brother had once shamed her by bringing her three maxi absorbent pads boxes to high school once he had learned she had her first menstruations; Tenten had opened up to Neji quite remarkably.
Likewise, Neji, who was usually far more reserved, found it so easy and simple talking to her that he had no problems sharing memories of his childhood with Hinata and going into details of the first time he met Naruto and made him shit his pants with his uncle and father, making the blonde tremble when they gave him the talk of treating Hinata like the princess she was.
Then the conversation turned more profound and personal as Tenten retold him of how a nasty injury halted her dancing career quite prematurely, and in turn, he told her of his fears to not be able to properly succeed his uncle at the company. And in-between shared worries and dreams they had for the future, they also indulged in other funny memories. Like when Hanabi put a snake in Neji's tent during the first and last ever Hyuga camping trip.
The last slow on the dance floor was coming to an end. Neji looked at Tenten, and she looked back at him, and in the obscured ballroom, he cupped her cheek and, willed by the few consumptions that clouded his mind, he kissed her.
At first, unsure, delicately, but when she leaned into him, their exchange became more passionate and fiery. Neji withdrew back a few centimetres, panting, looking with half-glazed eyes at the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
"Let's go somewhere more private." He suggested huskily, shocked by his own initiative.
His heart heaved a sigh of relief when she nodded eagerly.
"Yes, please." She whispered against his lips.
It didn't take much for Neji and Tenten to secretly withdraw from the ballroom where Hinata was about to throw a bouquet amid a crowd of raging and drunk women.
It was very cliché to have sex with the maid of honour at your cousin's wedding, but Neji would have done it a thousand times over.
Everything about Tenten had been exquisitely intoxicating since the first moment he had laid eyes on her. From her pouty glistening lips that were now running down his chest; to her glowing golden skin that ran like smooth silk between his fingers. The only thing he regretted was not being able to hold her longer in a proper bed after they were done. He wished he could have breathed in her scent and relished in her warmth a bit longer.
"I have to go," She whispered hurriedly, putting her panties back on.
Neji nodded, wordless, still breathless from the rocking orgasm they had shared.
"See you around, Neji Hyuga." She grinned at him, still panting.
He had no time to reply as she left the closet they had locked themselves in, leaving him to lean back against the wall. Passing a hand through his hair, still haunted by the smile of the vixen woman who had entered his world like a hurricane and leaving him wanting so much more.
