Chapter One: The Loneliness At Last Strikes
That was certainly a night Tenten would never forget, ever since that night, she had decided she would live with Neji in his apartment, which he had discussed with her and hoped she would. She had never since then spent a night alone by herself; she always had Neji with her. They mostly had missions together, so it wasn't so bad, when it wasn't an ANBU ranked mission that Neji had to go alone on.
Neji loved her deeply; she knew this by the way he told her in words as well as in his touch and their love making. He was always so patient with her, and she also was patient with him. There were days though that he had to go and speak to the Head of the Clan whenever there was a clan gathering, which only Neji could attend, but he would always be able to come home right after.
Tenten was spending a day with Neji's cousin Hinata, Temari who had been visiting Konohagakure just to be with her fiancée, Shikamaru Nara, and Ino Yamanaka, Sakura having had to go on some mission or other. Neji was on a mission, and wouldn't be returning until tonight. That was the life of being a Black Ops ANBU captain; you could not help having to go on missions at the last moment, when suddenly she felt a pair of warm strong arms wrap around her and someone's warm mouth against her ear as she heard the person whisper,
"Did you miss me?" Tenten blinked in shock, she could hear Temari, Hinata and even Ino giggling about something. Tenten turned to see Neji dressed in his ANBU gear, his mask was off and hanging from his belt, behind Tenten, who were all sitting in some random public place, talking about previous missions and what ever kunoichis did with their spare time. Tenten turned and jabbed him playfully in the stomach and said as she turned to give him a kiss on his nose,
"Of course I missed you Neji!" She giggled as he grunted a little at being jabbed in the stomach and then his nose being kissed. When the two of them looked back at the other girls, Tenten had to fight off a giggle, when she saw how shocked the three girls were to see Neji being so affectionate, well not really shocked for Temari who was just a bit surprised.
Hinata especially was shocked, due in part to that she had never seen Neji show any sort of public display of affection before, nor usually see him smiling as much. He used to be cold to everyone around him after all. She spoke up first,
"Hello Neji-nii-san." She was actually talking normally, seeing she had managed to break herself out of her habit of stuttering when she was even among people that were not strangers to her. Neji turned to look at Hinata briefly and he stiffly bowed a little.
"Hello Hinata-Chan." He forwent calling her Hinata-sama due to the fact they were in front of two people who weren't Hyuugas after all. He turned to look at Ino and Temari, "Hello Temari-san and Ino…" He became his usual stoic self once again. But he turned to speak to Tenten,
"Tenten, I'll see you later; I have to report to the Hokage about the mission." This was code word that he wanted her to be at home as soon as he could finish up with the Hokage. Their relationship was blossoming into something very deep these days.
"Okay Neji I'll see you later then." Said Tenten cheerily, giggling to herself as he kissed her cheek, before placing his ANBU mask back onto his face and headed off in the direction of the Hokage office. She turned to see the three of them gawking at her, Ino being the Queen of Gossip spoke up,
"So how long has it been going on for, I've never seen Neji so happy in my entire life, he was like the King of the North Pole for crying out loud, and don't leave out the details." Tenten began blushing; she then heard her best friend, Temari, just huff for a moment and shake her head. Temari wasn't one for gossip. Hinata was probably the only other person who knew Neji was seeing Tenten now, since the night Tenten returned that wonderful night from her A ranked mission, so she remained quiet at the moment.
"We've been seeing each other for at least a month now, I think…I kind of lost track of the days." Tenten said blushing even more as she watched Ino start having little giggling fits. Tenten shook her head and giggled and looked towards Temari had asked,
"So how's Shikamaru doing these days Temari, still being lazy?" She always teased Temari about Shikamaru. She watched as Temari chuckled and smiled towards Tenten,
"Nah I managed to break him of that habit of his finally, I always manage to 'motivate' him to doing things with me." She gave the others a smirk. Tenten bursted out in a fit of giggles, she knew what Temari meant by 'motivation' either she deprived him probably of sex or just beat the hell out of him, that was usually what Temari meant. And Temari probably knew that Shikamaru couldn't live without sex, no matter how 'troublesome' the act was to him.
Tenten then turned to Hinata, "Hinata-Chan, how's Naruto-Kun been doing ever, opps sorry I meant Naruto-Sama been doing these days?" Naruto had become Hokage like the loud mouth fox boy had always vowed he would become. Tenten and even Neji could not believe that he would finally do this; it had been a year to two years ago, and that also Sasuke Uchiha had returned to the village, much to everyone's shock and yet in a way they were glad he had returned.
Hinata began twiddling with her fingers as she blushed a little and said in her normal like voice, "He…and I are doing good, he's so busy with his Hokage duties, and I have to deal with my own duties as the Head of my Clan now…" Tenten had almost forgotten that Hinata had become the head of her Clan, and Hiashi was now the head of the Elders of the Hyuuga Clan, Hiashi had decided he would keep an eye on his daughter while she was the Head of the Clan; he had also come to the conclusion that his daughter was strong enough to lead their Clan.
One of the acts Hinata had done was to burn the scroll that contained the Curse Mark's secret information to activate it, and no one was ever to use that jutsu on anyone on pain of death. Neji had certainly been happy about this; hence probably why he seemed more affectionate to the one he loved as well, it was like a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders.
Tenten smiled at the Hyuuga woman, and said, "I'm sure Naruto-Sama will make sometime for you soon, Hinata-Chan." She watched the girl nod her head and then smiled at her. Tenten then turned to Ino who was chatting with Temari while Tenten was speaking to Hinata. She wanted to ask how Ino and Chouji were doing, but decided she had best get herself going before Neji had a conniption fit and got worried about his beloved.
She stood up slowly and stretched her aching muscles, "I better go, Neji wants me to go meet him at his place, see you guys later, I won't probably be back until next week, seeing the Rokudaime wants me to go on a mission with Lee and his fiancée, in 2 days."
The girls waved at her and Tenten quickly retreated to Neji's apartment building. She felt so happy for some reason, never being so happy in her life. She had everything possible; she had become a strong Kunoichi, in the eyes of Tsunade before she had stepped down as the Godaime and allowed Naruto to become Rokudaime Hokage, she had Neji who she had always wanted to be with since probably they became a Team, and she couldn't have asked for anything better. So far, life was good.
She got home just about 15 minutes before Neji did, and decided to wait for him by the door. She felt his presence before she saw him, and giggled as she watched him poof into the house, after using the Body Flicker Technique to get inside. She immediately wrapped her arms around his waist and said,
"Welcome back, Neji-Kun…" Neji was a little startled by this but quickly removed his ANBU mask and hugged her in return; a small smile appeared on his lips, even though he looked exhausted. He nuzzled his face into her hair and murmured into it,
"I missed you, Tenten; I have some good news and some bad news for the both of us." Tenten blinked when she heard him say this and pulled a little bit away from him to stare into his beautiful eyes for a few minutes, searching for something in them.
"Well go ahead and tell me the bad news first I guess." Said Tenten after giving him a kiss on the lips briefly, she waited for him to speak up. She didn't have to wait long,
"The Rokudaime is sending me on a 4 month mission to the Land of Lightning, apparently there have been some problems with the Raikage there, and they want me and my team to go there to figure out what's going on, and offer any help to the Godaime Raikage there." This brought a frown to the Hyuuga Prodigy's face and also an even sadder look into Tenten's chocolate brown eyes.
Tenten spoke in a dejected voice, "I see, well if there's problems, you have to go and deal with it Neji-Kun, it's for the best right, there might be a threat of war if we can't help the Raikage right?" She was just going to be obviously lonely for the next few months. She then suddenly felt his hands grab her chin, and she was made to look into his eyes.
"Tenten, I know that I won't see you for a long time, but I'll make you a promise, the day that I come back, I promise to make up for all those days that I wasn't at your side…" He then kissed her softly yet sweetly on the mouth to seal the deal, and even slightly grinded himself against her to prove what he meant by 'making' it up to her. He then pulled back and said,
"Now for the good news, I don't have to leave for a few days, so we can spend those days with each other, until you and I both have to leave on our respective missions…" Tenten was almost happy to hear those words; she practically curled her body around him as she jumped into his arms, and said seductively,
"Well good, then we better get to work…" She giggled after this as she heard him groan when she had wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his shoulders.
"Tenten, why must you insist on teasing me like this?" He purred into her ear, giving her a devastating smirk, one that he only gave to his enemies before he killed them. But in this case, it was a smirk that meant mischief was bound to happen.
"Because I love you, and I know it gets me anything I want out of you…" She said playfully pouting at him, before starting to nibble on his neck, giving him tiny kisses everywhere she could possibly find a place to put them. Neji chuckled at this and gasped softly; he then grabbed her chin and began passionately and roughly kissing her, right there in the hallway of their apartment.
Tenten moaned softly as he kissed her roughly and passionately like the way he was doing, she always enjoyed these kisses of his. She would miss him, but she knew he would come back alive and make up for all the many lonely nights that she would have until his return to Konohagakure.
Neji then pulled back and carried her into their room, kicking the door open, seeing Tenten had closed it on her way out to see the girls. He continued to kiss her as he brought them both into the room, and gently he laid Tenten down on their bed. He heard her protesting when she lost the warmth of his body briefly before Neji got onto the bed after removing his shoes, shirt and hitai-ate headband and laid on top of her, and continued to kiss her passionately with wild and silent abandon.
3 days later, and much to a tired looking Tenten, who had pretty much spent most of the last few days, with Neji, almost always in bed; only getting up when they had to talk to someone who came by the apartment or to eat. And she already missed him; they certainly had a lot of fun though. It had been one huge 2 and a half day sex escapade.
Tenten sighed depressively as she walked with her best friend Rock Lee and his fiancée Hyperia as they headed towards the site of their mission. They would be gone for a few days until probably the middle of next week. Lee had taken notice of his best friend and sister figure's depression and spoke up hyperly,
"Do not waste your youthfulness on mere tears Tenten-Chan, Neji will return…I know he will he is a genius after all." He gave her thumbs up and a small silly grin as well, trying to cheer his friend up.
Tenten looked at him and attempted to smile back at him and shook her head, "Lee, how many times I have to tell you that I'll be fine, and quit with the thumbs up sign thing you always do." She always found Lee so annoying at times, but he was always a good friend. She heard Hyperia giggling at her fiancée and Tenten looked towards the short girl and gave her a smile.
"Aww he's just worried about you Tenten-San, no need to get upset at him, he's always held you and Neji-San in high regard, at least that's what he told me." Tenten giggled and nodded as she gave Lee a noogie on his head as soon as he got close enough for her to reach over towards him.
"Yeah I guess your right Hyperia-Chan, I shouldn't be moping around, I mean he's right, Neji will be okay, I just…I guess I'm lonely."
"Gah! Tenten stop doing that!" shouted Lee as he had been placed in a head lock underneath Tenten's arm and was given a noogie, messing up his hair as she did this. His arms were flailing all over the place. This both made Tenten and Hyperia burst out laughing. Tenten dropped Lee after a few more minutes to the ground, which Lee immediately landed in a crouch.
He attempted to fix his hair and crossed his arms and pouted; "Now you're making fun of me." He said with a pout. Hyperia frowned and walked over to Lee and hugged him, pushing his face into basically her chest, and Tenten could hear Hyperia say,
"It's okay Lee-San, it's all in fun, and at least you made Tenten-San smile right?" Lee relaxed a little as he felt Hyperia hug him and he nodded his head and leaned up and kissed Hyperia sweetly on the cheek.
"My beloved Stone Blossom is correct, I finally managed to get my beautiful Konoha Blossom, to smile, and perhaps distract her from those thoughts of loneliness of hers, yosh!" shouted Lee with glee as he got up quickly to his feet. Tenten sighed a little. He had always referred her as his 'Konoha Blossom' since they were Genin; it was really just a friendly nickname he gave her. Tenten and Neji hadn't minded it; it was a nick name that had grown on Tenten to be honest.
She then watched comically as Lee started bouncing all over the place, and Hyperia was trying to get him to calm down. She had been glad Lee had found Hyperia as his soul mate, at first Tenten and even Neji had started worrying about him for awhile, he had been depressed for the longest time, and very distracted. Tenten giggled at Lee's antics, she was indeed starting to feel better.
She placed her ill thoughts of Neji not coming back to rest, for the time being. She had some things that had to get done, and that meant this mission. She could not let this distract her. Suddenly she felt a wave of nausea hit her, Tenten froze in her step for a moment. 'Why am I feeling so sick all of a sudden?'' she thought to herself as she had paused, letting the others get ahead of her a little. 'It must be something I ate, probably that sushi last night; I knew I should have told Neji not to bother…'
She waited a few minutes, before finally she was able to continue walking with her team she was currently with; brushing off the fact that it was just probably something indeed she had eaten that was causing the nausea.
Tenten called out, "Hey guys! Wait for me!" She quickly ran after them, shaking her head, they were so impatient it seemed to get this mission going. She couldn't wait to have Neji back in her arms. She quickly hurried up to try and catch up with her team.
A few days after chasing the rogue ninja they had been sent to go after, Tenten's nausea had not ceased since it started appearing. She felt so ill and felt sweaty and pale, she was pale, because Hyperia had mentioned this out loud when Tenten had run off into the bushes to throw up. She was also loosing her concentration because she would be hit with wave after wave of nausea every time she attempted to strike at the enemy with her projectile weapons.
"Lee-san, something is wrong with Tenten-San…my koi, I'm worried about her." Hyperia was hugging Rock Lee around his waist as they were waiting for Tenten to come back to their campsite that night.
"You are correct in that assumption, my lovely Hyperia, we should ask if she is alright, or perhaps we should mention this to the Rokudaime when we return to Konohagakure." Said Lee. He was concerned for his best friend's health after all; he had never seen her so ill, not since perhaps when she had been badly injured in her first attempt at the Chuunin exams, when she had faced off against Temari of the Sand.
Hyperia kissed his cheek after getting on her tiptoes, Lee immediately moved his head down to kiss her sweetly on the mouth, and yet gently, not even noticing that Tenten had come back and was looking even more ill then she had before, during their make out session.
Tenten looked up as she slumped against a tree trunk and sat there, watching the two she coughed, "Ahem! You guys should save that for when you get married…" She said teasingly, trying to crack a joke at them even though she felt like hell.
Lee and Hyperia both started blushing as they pulled back to look at the pale Tenten. Tenten began laughing, "I'm joking guys…" She smiled weakly at them as she attempted to rest against the tree, wondering why the hell this nausea continued to plague her. 'I better see Sakura whenever I get back to Konohagakure, thank Kami-sama that we are almost done this mission, I don't know how long I can take with being so sick all the time.'
Lee then finally popped the question, "Tenten, are you alright? You've been very ill since the mission begun." He had concern written on his face, Tenten was in a way glad she had friends like him around, always worried about her. Hyperia was watching Tenten as well as the two of them walked over to sit beside her.
"I actually don't know Lee, seriously, I've been ill since that day yeah, I thought it was food poisoning seeing me and Neji had sushi the night before he had to leave for his 4 month ANBU mission." "Usually sushi doesn't upset my stomach though." Said Tenten as she tried to explain when this all started happening really to her friends.
"Perhaps we should cancel the mission, it is obvious you need to see a medical Ninja Tenten-Chan, I am sure Naruto-sama will not mind if we bring you back to figure out what is troubling your stomach." Said Lee hyper like. Hyperia and Tenten both looked at Lee with shock and Hyperia said slightly hyper like,
"No way, we are close to catching this guy! There's a small village not far from here that has a medical ninjutsu using woman there, I'm sure she could find out what's making Tenten-San so ill." Hyperia knew a lot of the different smaller villages that dotted around the Hidden Leaf Village; after all she had been a nomadic ninja for most of her life since becoming a Genin and being exiled from Iwagakure.
"Guys, really I'm sure it's just food poisoning…" Suddenly a kunai blade came whizzing towards where Tenten had just had her head, and quickly Tenten got up to her feet and drew a kunai blade. Three to seven ninja suddenly came out of the bushes, in an attempt to ambush the three of them. Tenten frowned and immediately had to shout to her friends,
"You guys, take on those you can fight off…" She then quickly launched her kunai blade with deadly precision at the ninja coming towards her, at his throat, knocking the man down with a blood gargling yell. At least her accuracy hadn't been messed up. She glared as she was attacked by another ninja, and quickly ducked a kick as she watched from the corner of her eye as Lee and Hyperia did their own taijutsu attacks against the on rush of ninja.
Hyperia shouted something, "Man these guys are coming in bunches…" Tenten had to agree with her friend and quickly she felt something strike at the back of Tenten's head. Tenten winced and collapsed to her knees. She tried to fight off unconsciousness as she heard her best friend shout out her name, and then heard her attacker's voice cry out in pain as Lee had used his Dynamic Entry technique against him.
Tenten then fell unconscious and felt someone's arms managing to catch her. All she could remember was Lee trying to call out to her before blackness swallowed her whole.
When Tenten awoke the next time, she felt a slight pain in her head and she felt sick to her stomach still. 'Where am I? I feel like I was hit with a hammer or something…what happened to me?' Suddenly she heard someone burst out shouting almost,
"Tenten! Your back among the living, thank kami-sama!" Tenten blinked her chocolate brown eyes and looked over to see her best friend standing there. Hyperia was in a chair on the other side of the room dozing no doubt. Tenten then finally managed to croak out,
"Lee, don't be so hyper…and stop shouting, my head hurts…" Suddenly she heard another voice, this from an elderly woman, "Your lucky that those enemies manage to only knock your head around, if they had gone through what they had been planning to do, as your partner explained, you might not have been able to hear about the good news."
Tenten blinked as she suddenly sat up and winced and held her head in pain, "Ow…they really hit me hard in the head…" She said softly as she continued to wince a little, she then wondered what the woman meant by good 'news'. She then turned to Lee for a moment and asked,
"Who is she?" Lee quickly spoke, "Her name is Kitana she once belonged to one of the Villages that was wiped out in many of the great Shinobi Wars 50 years ago, apparently she knows Hyperia, and can be trusted…" He gave Tenten the thumbs up sign again. Tenten began sweat dropping a little as she watched him do this. If she hadn't just finally woken up from being hit in the head with a blunt object, she probably would be bonking Lee over the head with her fist.
The elderly lady then spoke, "Lee-San, you should take Hyperia to the other room, she still needs to recover from using all that chakra to protect your friend here, I'll give Tenten-San the news that's she's probably wish to know and figure out why she has been feeling the way she has."
Lee then nodded and saluted Kitana before quickly walking over to his sleeping fiancée, picking her up bridal style and before leaving he said to Tenten, "Don't worry Tenten-Chan, your secret is safe with me for now." With that he left the room with the sleeping Hyperia. Did the old woman already tell Lee and Hyperia what was wrong with her? No wonder Lee seemed so excited that she had finally woken up.
Tenten then turned to the elderly woman and spoke, "Arigatou Kitana Obaa-San, I owe you for helping me and my friends recover from our ordeal, um…what do you mean by good news? Did Lee tell you already that I've been feeling ill for the last few days?" She was very curious and yet scared to know what was causing her to be so sick, she knew this was not food poisoning if it had caused Lee to be so excited.
"Yes, he did as soon as Hyperia and he brought your unconscious form to my little home here; you are very lucky indeed Tenten. I have to ask you something first. I know this is a personal question, but have you been with anyone in the past month or two? I mean had any sexual activities before you came this way?"
Tenten began to blush, the woman was trying to pry into her private life, but she knew the woman was a Medical ninja and was only trying to figure out the reasoning behind her mysterious illness. She also took note to herself, she had not had her period yet this month or before. Tenten quietly nodded, having been too embarrassed to answer with words. This was bringing her heart sickness back; she missed Neji so much right now.
"Well, whoever the man you were with, I hope he will be quite happy to know this…" Kitana said. Tenten wished the woman would just come out and say what was wrong with her already. 'Senile old woman, I wish she would hurry up and say it…' thought an impatient and yet scared Tenten.
"What will make him happy? Please just say it Kitana Obaa-chan." Said an impatient Tenten. Kitana gave her a smile and said, "Well let's just say, that in about 7 months from now, you'll be having a little bundle of joy to call your own."
Tenten blinked in shock for a few moments, she…did she just say that…it couldn't be. Suddenly tears sprang to Tenten's eyes. 'How could…how could this have happened? I mean, Neji and I just started having a relationship…I don't think Neji would want a baby right now, with us being so busy with missions and his Clan probably wouldn't want him to marry me…even if Hinata is trying to change the ways of the Hyuuga Clan…'
Tenten sobbed for a few moments, her body was shaking, and she didn't know whether to be happy or sad right now. She was carrying his child, Neji's and his alone. She wondered how he would react, would he be happy, Upset, angry? 'Why did you have to go on this damn mission Neji-Kun, I need you here at my side right now...I love you so much…'
Tenten then whispered, "Um, can I be alone with my thoughts for now Kitana Obaa-Chan, thank you for telling me this, um how far a long did you say I was?" The old woman smiled at her before starting to leave, "You are about 2 months pregnant at this moment Tenten-san, and think nothing of it. I owed Hyperia a great debt, and this is one of the many ways I can help her pay back that debt, by helping her friends and those she cares about."
Once the old woman was gone, Tenten began punching her pillow, how could she have let him do this to her? Not that she wouldn't love the child, it was the consequences of being unwed and pregnant that were weighing in her mind. She couldn't exactly force Neji to marry her because of the child growing inside of her now, she loved him a lot, but it had taken him so long to gain his freedom from the Hyuuga Clan, she didn't want to weigh him down with the burden of her expecting the baby and all.
'I have to tell him, I have to, I just, I love him so much, and I don't want to loose him.' She thought wearily to herself. Suddenly she heard a soft knock on the door, and someone speaking,
"Tenten, can I come in?" It was Lee. Tenten sighed and sat up in her bed and wiped at her eyes, "Just a moment…Lee…I'm not presentable…" Suddenly she felt a wave of nausea coming on and quickly she got up and ran for the room's bathroom, and quickly threw up in the sink. A few minutes of throwing up, and then cleaning up, she headed back into her bed, and lay there, sweating and pale. "Okay come in Lee…" she called out.
Rock Lee came back into her room and looked at her concernedly and he leaned against the nearest wall, close enough to be near Tenten. A few moments of silence was made before Lee finally spoke,
"Whose is it?" He asked. He wanted to know who the baby belonged to. Lee was trying to act like a big brother to her, which it touched her, so deeply whenever he tried to do this for her. Tenten then said,
"It's Neji's; Lee…I thought you would know by now that me and Neji have been going out for almost 2 months now." Lee nodded and was quiet for a few minutes as he was thinking of probably ways to kick Neji's butt for leaving her pregnant and alone in a time like this. Lee then said calmly after 5 minutes of silence,
"How long will Neji be gone for? You said about 4 months, right? That would put you into what your 5th month of pregnancy or the beginning of your 6th?" Tenten nodded her head as she listened to him muse out loud what he was thinking. Lee then turned and looked at her again and walked over and took her hands in his and said,
"Tenten, you've always been like a sister to me, I will be at your side and help you get through this, Neji will have to be informed about this, and so will the Rokudaime." "Once he knows, I have only one request from you, make me the child's god father."
Tenten blinked in slight shock and surprise, Lee wanted to be hers and Neji's child's god father? She smiled sadly at him and nodded her head, and whispered softly, "Alright, I'll have to talk to Neji about this first, if you do then that will make Hyperia my child's god mother seeing you and her are getting married soon."
Lee nodded and gave her a genuine real smile, "Hai, I hope Neji will be back as soon as he can. I know how vital his mission is right now, but his child is just as important as this mission, and the safety of Konohagakure." "Tomorrow, Hyperia and I will wrap up this mission by ourselves, you need to rest for now Tenten, and please, don't worry about Neji so much, he will be alright, everything will be as good as new." He then gave her the nice guy pose, "That's a promise I know will happen." He finished and brushing his lips against Tenten's sweaty forehead, in a brotherly like kiss, he then walked out, letting Tenten get some rest.
Tenten would have to obey Lee; she knew that she could not risk getting hurt, for both hers and for the baby's sake. She felt so much better now that Lee had given her his speech. She prayed Lee was right, that Neji would be happy to know this. She fell into a comfortable sleep that was plagued with no nightmares just sweet dreams of being in Neji's arms once again.