Chapter Two: Pregnancy and Hope

3 months pass by; the entire Leaf village had been informed of Tenten's pregnancy, all were shocked including Naruto who had to be informed first and the head of the Medic Corp second, who happened to be Sakura Haruno. All had wondered who the father of Tenten's baby was. Tenten had explained to those close to her that it was Neji's child and Neji was the only man she had allowed to touch her.

Her morning sickness had been hell but had slowly begun to disappear over time after she reached her 4th month of pregnancy. Tenten just felt tired and always seemed to want to eat a lot, which Sakura had explained to be normal for a pregnant woman to have cravings and be tired all the time. Tenten was enjoying at times the attention she was getting from the others.

Naruto had given her time off from Ninja missions until the baby was born at least, and probably by that time, Neji would be back from his mission that he was still on. When Tenten had reached her 5th month of pregnancy that was when all the pains and aches had started appearing. Tenten sighed as she waddled slightly down the street heading for a gathering the girls had decided to have for Tenten to help her cheer up.

She had a funny feeling, she was carrying a boy, being the only child of her parents, Tenten had been given advice from some of the older kunoichis who had children, Kurenai being one of them. Who had given birth to a son, who just happened to be the child of Asuma Sarutobi, before he had been killed by Akatsuki long ago. Kurenai had told her that it depended if you had heartburn or something of that sort. Usually when a woman was having a girl, the heartburn meant the child would be a girl because of the hair they would be born with. She did not want to really know the sex of her child; she would leave that up to fate to decide when the time for the birth came along.

'As long as it's healthy and alive, I'm fine with that.' Tenten thought to herself as she managed to reach Sakura's place finally. Temari, Hinata and Sakura had asked her to meet at Sakura's place. Ino had to go on a mission with Shino and a few others. Tenten gently knocked on the door to Sakura's house and waited for a few minutes before a pair of ivory eyes had answered the door, it was Hinata.

"Hello Tenten-Chan…" Said Hinata as she opened the door to let Tenten come in. Tenten gave Hinata a smile and a small hug as well. Hinata had been so kind to her since finding out about the up coming birth. Hinata had asked Tenten to stay with her until Neji had returned to Konohagakure at the Hyuuga Mansion, under her protection of course. At first Tenten had declined, but decided it was better then sleeping in a lonely apartment, hoping Neji was still alive.

"Hey Hinata-Chan, who's at the…Oh Hi Tenten!" Called Sakura as the pink haired girl walked by the door, holding a small tray of glasses and had been heading for the living room, "Come on in, Temari just got here a few moments before you."

Tenten huffed a little as she felt a sharp kick to her stomach come and go; the baby was kicking at the moment. She moved a hand immediately to her stomach and she began rubbing at the swell of her 5th month swollen belly as she walked into the living room, after removing her comfortable zori sandals, that she had decided to start wearing, seeing they were the only things that would fit comfortably with her swollen ankles. Another thing Tenten at times hated about being pregnant.

Temari looked over to her best friend and quickly got up and went to help Tenten to a comfortable chair, and a smirk appeared on her lips, "I got some good news for you Tenten, I just heard from Gaara before I came here from Sunagakure a few days ago." Said Temari quietly so only she would hear it. Tenten gave a nod and thanked the blonde kunoichi of the Sand for helping her to her seat.

Everyone seemed to want to always help Tenten, even though she wasn't as delicate as some thought she was. She was a kunoichi for crying out loud, but Tenten accepted the help anyway, because she didn't want to hurt her friends' feelings after all. Tenten sighed and attempted to place her swollen feet up on a small stool that had a pillow on it. Sakura had made sure to place it there so when Tenten arrived, she could sit in the comfortable chair and put her feet up.

Resting both her hands on her stomach she looked over to Sakura and Hinata as the two girls came back into the living room, Sakura smiling and Hinata was being her usual quiet self. She then turned to Temari and asked,

"So what's the good news you have for me Temari-San?" She wanted to know what it was indeed that Temari knew. Temari took a sip of her drink that she had been drinking for the past few minutes before Tenten had arrived and spoke,

"Gaara just got the news, that the ANBU team sent from Konohagakure just wrapped everything up and has arrived in Sunagakure to rest up, meaning Neji should be here in 3 days time, they showed up the night I left for Konohagakure, to come be with Shikamaru."

Tenten's eyes widened, she could not be anymore happier to hear this, "Did you…did you actually get to see Neji? Please tell me you did and that you didn't ruin the surprise…" She winced a little when she felt the baby again kick her hard. 'Your excited too, hmm little one, daddy will be home soon.' She thought inwardly to her unborn child.

"Yeah I saw him, and I told him that you love him and missed him terribly, I didn't say anything else, hopefully Gaara won't tell him, seeing I did tell Gaara and Kankuro about your pregnancy." "And by the way he's alright; apparently he had a broken arm, which can be quickly healed by a medical ninja." Said Temari as she looked towards Sakura and Hinata. Hinata was happy to know her cousin would be returning soon.

Tenten was nervous about seeing Neji now that she knew he was safe and sound and would be coming back soon to her. 'Neji please…for kami-sama's sake, I hope you will be happy with this baby and want it.' She said in prayer to herself. Tenten then turned to Hinata and said,

"Hinata-Chan, can you come walk me home after we are done here, and help me clean up Neji's apartment? I want him to have a clean place by the time he gets home, seeing it won't be long now until he does get home." Hinata nodded her head, and said, "Of course Tenten-Chan, I'll give you a hand…"

Tenten smiled, "Arigatou Hinata-Chan." They then had a few other interesting conversations until Temari had to leave and Sakura got called away from the house on an emergency that needed her attention at the hospital. So Tenten and Hinata headed over to Neji's apartment and Hinata gave Tenten some help cleaning and dusting the place and made it presentable.

Once Tenten was alone by the time 9 pm had come and gone, she was extremely exhausted, so placing on a beautiful maroon colored maternity nightgown that went down to just above her thighs, she slipped into bed, and immediately fell asleep on her side. Little did she know that Neji had decided to return a little more quickly then Temari had stated.

It had been a very hard and tiresome mission, but it had been worth the effort he had put into it. Neji Hyuuga was extremely glad he had managed to find out the problem and rid the Land of Lightning as fast as he could of the problems they had really been having. As he left Sunagakure to get back to Konohagakure as fast as he could, there was only one thing on his mind, and that was to get to his beloved Heavenly one as quickly as he could.

He had deeply missed her, and when Temari had told him Tenten had been worried sick about him all these months, he had told Temari to tell Tenten that he was fine, and would come home soon. And now he was, perched up on top of the west wall of Konohagakure peering down at the slumbering village. He had not been notified of Tenten's condition yet.

He was tired but happy, as he leapt off the wall and landed in a crouch with the help of a back flip, he could deal with the 3 and a half month long mission report later, right now he had a promise to keep, and that promise was waiting for him undoubtedly in his apartment, probably sleeping right now.

As Neji took off silently, still wearing his ANBU Peregrine falcon shaped mask, he wondered how she had been holding up. He knew she was probably aching to be held by him by now; he was aching to be in her arms as well, and to be able to smell her scent again. This had driven him to do well in the mission, which had taken him so long to be done with. Neji leapt over rooftops as he continued to head in the direction of his apartment building.

Reaching it in 10 minutes, he quietly noticed the window to his bedroom was opened, that meant she was indeed home. He would surprise her, by quietly entering the room through the window and snuggling into the bed beside her, that was what he was planning to do. He was extremely tired. His arm was feeling a little better since the medic ninja in Sunagakure had tend to it before he had hastily taken off ahead of his team. He had told them he wanted to head back to Konohagakure ahead of them; of course his team teased him that he really wanted to be with his woman, which had rewarded them all with an icy glare coming from the Hyuuga ANBU captain, which shut them up pretty fast.

He saw her form on the bed, covered by the same midnight blue comforter he had slept with the night he had claimed her as his all scarcely 5 or so months ago. Her back was to him, and thank goodness in a way also. He had so far not noticed the little surprise that would wait for him. Quickly he slipped into the bedroom and silently placed his gear down, removing his mask, and armour carefully; he stripped himself down to just his boxers and quietly snuck to the bed.

He stared down at her for a moment as he removed the throng that had held his long gorgeous hair in and let it flow down his back as he watched her sleep. She looked so adorable sleeping like that. 'I missed her so much, I'm glad she is safe and sound though…I don't know what I would have done if something had happened to her, and I wasn't there to stop it.' He thought to himself as he quietly got into the bed, slipping underneath the blanket and carefully he attempted to snuggle up to her back and laid his chin against her shoulder.

He whispered, "Tenten…" She moaned a little in her sleep as he called her name. He blinked for a moment and smirked to himself, she must have been tired from what ever activity she had to do today. He gently began kissing the shell of her ear, which made her shiver and suddenly rolled over to her back before rolling over to his side. What shocked him was the bump he could feel pushing almost against him.

Neji was indeed shocked, why was she…was she? He thought to himself. 'Why did no one tell me this…?'' He thought in shock. He spoke up louder, "Tenten, wake up please…" His hand went immediately to her swollen stomach as he waited for her to wake up finally. Her beautiful chocolate brown eyes opened slowly until she saw someone in front of her.

He could feel something making a fluttering movement inside of her stomach when he had placed his hand to there. She was pregnant, that was the only thing he could think of why her stomach was like this. 'Whose could this be though?' he thought slightly angry, had his beloved cheated on him while he had been away?

"Neji!" He heard her shriek almost in happiness as he also felt her arms go around him in a tight hug. Then suddenly he heard her groan a little, she sounded like she was in pain. Neji kissed her a little on the forehead and asked in a slightly angry tone of voice, and also between clenched teeth,

"Whose…is this Tenten?" He pointed to her stomach. Tenten took a moment to give him a passionate and yet very rough kiss that spoke of how much she loved and had missed him before she blinked her pretty brown eyes at him. His voice sounded angry when he had asked her such a silly question like that. She quickly responded, showing her love for him, though she was upset really.

"This…this is yours Neji…He's yours…" She felt sad at this moment. How could he think that she had cheated on him while he had been gone all these months? She felt like crying as she saw in his eyes he was angry and looked ready to call her a liar. She had been very faithful to Neji, never had she gone with any other man since finding out about the baby.

Neji watched her face with his ivory eyes, looking for anything that would say that she was lying, how could it be his? How far along was she anyway? He sat up in the bed, not wanting to touch her, just wanting to ask her the questions first before he would do anything else. He would ask her this right now,

"Tenten, how far along did they…they say you were?" Tears started to form at Tenten's eyes and began to pour down silently down her cheeks as she said in a trembling voice,

"About 5 months pregnant, when I found out I was about 2 months pregnant, around the same time you left for your mission Neji…4 days afterwards." She looked so miserable. Neji suddenly felt bad about treating her like this. He began doing calculations in his head as she said she was 5 months pregnant. That would mean he had gotten her pregnant perhaps the same night he had made his claim on her.

Neji then suddenly looked down at his pregnant lover and grabbed her and pulled her into his arms, kissing her forehead. He felt stupid; of course this was his child. How could he say it was not? The woman loved him so much, after all. He spoke softly in an attempt to comfort her,

"Tenten, this…this is wonderful news…I'm sorry I was just angry because I thought this was not mine, I believe you…" He listened to her as she sobbed loudly for awhile; she buried her head into his muscled chest, and cried. Neji frowned and sighed more. 'Neji you can be such a baka at times…you hurt the only woman that cared and loved you.' Said his inner self to him, 'I know that, that's why I'm trying to make my amends to her right now…' thought Neji angrily back to his inner self. He began to stroke her hair gently as her sobs became quiet until they were almost hiccups.

He then grabbed her chin and made her look at him, "Tenten, I love you…I was just shocked, no one told me about this, if the Rokudaime had sent a message to me, perhaps I would not have jumped to conclusions so fast." Inwardly his heart was indeed very much happy to know he would be a father soon. He continued to stroke her hair and then bent down and took her lips onto his and kissed her passionately yet softly, showing her that he did indeed love her.

'I hope I can be a good father, like my own was…' Thought Neji as he continued to kiss his beloved passionately before pulling away after Tenten returned the favour. A small smile appeared on her face as she spoke finally,

"So you are serious about this, you want this child then?" She wanted to know that he would love her and the baby unconditionally, as she loved him unconditionally, flaws and all. She watched him for a few moments conflict with something in his mind before she felt his hand start to trace circles on her swollen stomach with his hand; this was probably a sign that meant that he did want the baby.

"Of course I do my beloved Heavenly one, more then anything else." Said Neji, rewarding her with a genuine smile. Tenten then started crying again, but this time it was because she was happy, she felt a huge burden being lifted off her shoulders. She winced slightly as the baby started doing what felt like somersaults inside of her stomach.

"Ow, I think the baby agrees with you on that, or he's trying to say hello to his father." She said with a small chuckle and with one of her eyes opened, the other closed due to the pain she was feeling from the movements. This made Neji chuckle as he placed his hand and gently tapped her stomach with his fingers briefly.

Something came to his mind and he then turned to Tenten, "Tenten, there's something I have to do before we can continue being happy together, and that's to ask you this…" He had been planning and thinking about marrying Tenten for awhile since their relationship had started, they had been great friends for the longest time, so he had figured as soon as he returned from this mission he would propose to her.

"Tenten, um…will you marry me, I want you to marry me not because of the baby, well not just for that but because I love you so much, will you be my wife?" He hoped she wouldn't reject him, the baby had been a bonus to his future plans with Tenten, everything had calmed down since the big war with the Akatsuki and the remnants of the Sound Village and Rain Village, so now was probably the perfect time to start settling down for him anyway.

Tenten began to cry again, she nodded and whispered, "Of course I'll marry you Neji-Kun…I love you so much, you and the baby both." She then wrapped her arms around his neck and started kissing him passionately on the mouth to seal the pledge he had offered to make to her.

Neji closed his eyes and encircled his arms around her carefully and kissed her back just as passionately, his heart was racing at this moment, he was free to do what he wished, he was in love, and he would soon have his own child in a few months time from now. What more could he ask for then this?

After kissing for awhile, he pulled back and gently laid her on the bed and wrapped his arms around her waist and said, "We should go to sleep, you and the baby both need it, Tenten." He nuzzled into her neck and tried to stifle a yawn as he heard her speak,

"Okay Neji, I love you…sweet dreams my handsome man…" With that Tenten drifted off to sleep, happy to have Neji back in her arms safe and secure.

Neji smiled and kissed her cheek gently as he watched her sleep for awhile. "I love you too…my koi." He rested his head on her shoulder and suddenly he had a bad feeling something was going to threaten his happiness, he just had a very bad feeling indeed.

Neji then after a few moments, just shrugged it off and drifted into the land of dreams, dreaming of the future ahead, not really caring about the outside world for the moment, he was just happy to be with his beloved Tenten at last.

Warning: Slight Lime/Lemon in this chapter somewhere
A figure dressed in a silver hooded robe in the darkness began walking towards a certain area that already had two figures waiting for this one particular person. The figure looked to be that of a woman.

"Well what do you have for us, Meidia?" asked a voice that had cut the darkness' silence like a kunai knife through flesh. The silver robed figure made a sound that sounded like a sigh and immediately the figure spoke, in an indeed feminine voice,

"The target left Sunagakure before I had a chance to assassinate him there; he's going to pay for killing Ryoku. Plus it doesn't help that the entire Sand Village is guarded by one of the Nine Bijuu containers and by probably a gazillion high ranked Ninja." "He managed to get back to Konohagakure, so I say we strike there perhaps."

"Then you failed us again, Meidia, once again, why do we even put up with your constant failures if you can not simply remove one simple little ANBU Black Ops captain?" said another voice. The one called Meidia then suddenly shuddered as she felt shadowy like hands begin to touch her shoulders and her back.

"She still proves useful, because we have need of her skills in this operation…that is why my dear comrade…" Said the first voice, as a man with black and white streaked hair stepped into the moon light which had casted shadows and only illuminated the silver robed figure known as Meidia. The man had jade green eyes, and by the looks of it, he had a slashed Kumogakure (Village Hidden in the Clouds) hitai-ate, meaning he was a missing ninja from the Cloud Village, and was wearing orange robes instead of silver.

Meidia then spoke to the other voice, "I have something vital that might perhaps help us in getting our revenge on that ANBU Captain for killing Ryoku, apparently he has a girlfriend that's pregnant, maybe we could threaten her life or the child she's carrying right now, that would bring him to us." The woman had been obviously spying in Konohagakure to have found out about this little interesting information.

"Hmmm…indeed it could prove useful, good work Meidia, you will carry this plan out for us, and we shall do the rest." "You may go now Gan, there is no need for you to stick around, I will give her, her reward and punishment for both failing us, and for this very vital information." Said the man who had appeared beside Meidia.

If Meidia knew what her reward would be, she would gladly take it over her punishment. She listened as the other person who had been waiting for her disappeared suddenly and left her alone with the black and white streaked haired man next to her. Suddenly she was shoved against a tree very hard. She grunted out loud as she felt pain in her back, her hood had come off to reveal a snow white haired woman with beautiful maroon colored eyes standing there.

The man walked over to her and pinned her against the tree, leaning against her ear as he whispered into it,

"You did indeed do well, my Meidia, your reward will be what I plan to do with your body, your punishment will be determined later once I have come up with one, do you understand me?" The man's name was Kiran and perhaps the head of this little group as well. Meidia made a small moan as she felt his tongue flick against her ear gently, and apparently was Meidia's secret 'lover' also.

"Kiran-sama, please…forgive me for failing you, I will not fail in capturing this woman for you to do with as you please, I am your humble slave and will do anything else you desire…" She managed to say as she felt his mouth now go down to her delicate throat, and now his hands go down below her waist. She groaned in pleasure as she could feel his fingers suddenly penetrate through her dampened folds, she never wore underwear, this had been one of Kiran's orders in case he would ever do what he was doing to her now.

"Good…because if you fail this time, you will die, simple as that…my lovely Meidia, I was the one that found you and raised you in the arts of the Shinobi, I can take your pitiful life and existence away from you in a blink of an eye if you do not bring this girl to me." Whispered Kiran as he continued his ministrations for a few more minutes before removing his hand and mouth from her body.

He then replaced his fingers with his actual length after grabbing her legs and wrapping them around his waist; he then set a brutal pace and continued until the night's silence was broken once more with Meidia's cries of pleasure and his own grunt after about 20 minutes or so passed. Kiran was not one to prolong sex like some were, when he wanted it, he took it from Meidia whenever she was around, he had brutally made sure she knew that, when Meidia had become the age of 16. He had taken her under his wing when she had been 12 years old, and found in a despot little part of the Cloud Village that was the poorest part of Kumogakure.

He had no pity also for those that did not obey him, or failed in his eyes, another thing he had beaten into the girl that he had just had sex with. He opened his jade eyes and began kissing her softly on the mouth. For some reason deep in his heart, he loved Meidia, but he could not just come out and say it. He had an ambition to fulfill, and the first thing he would do, was kill those that had put a snare in his plans, one of them being that of a certain Hyuuga ANBU captain and the other being having the current Raikage's head on a silver platter.

He hated the policies of the current Raikage, who had wanted peace with the Wind and Fire Countries so badly, which with no wars, that meant those that had trained their entire lives for battles, their time and lives would go to waste. Kiran wanted to spill blood and chaos, he had not cared at all what the war with the Akatsuki had brutally taught all of the 5 Great Shinobi Nations that war separated everyone from their loved ones, and killed them as well.

Kiran watched as Meidia came down from her high and opened her eyes to stare at Kiran. Kiran carefully let Meidia to her feet, making sure she did not fall after this and quickly adjusted his clothing, placing himself back into his pants before turning his back to Meidia.

"Meidia, you have your orders, bring the captive to the Great Naruto Bridge in the Land of Waves when you are done, we will hold her for ransom…and go easy on the woman! We wouldn't want the little thing growing inside of her to die just yet." He said this with great malice in his voice; though it was true the child growing in the woman's stomach would prove to be a good pawn in negotiating with the one who had stuck his nose into his business and plans for a new future Kumogakure.

"Hai Kiran-Sama, I will not fail you this time, I vow the next time you see me, I will have your prize, and perhaps you will reward me with another night like this?" She had a small look of pleading in her eyes. She certainly enjoyed being with him.

Kiran chuckled and turned and grabbed her and wrapped his arms around her waist as he leaned his forehead against hers and said,

"Yes, you will have another night like this if you do as I say; now hurry up and get going." Meidia nodded and quickly after adjusting her clothing, took off into the night, heading back towards Konohagakure, on a mission of kidnapping origins.

Kiran sighed as he watched her go briefly before heading for the Land of Waves silently, he would indeed wait and see if the woman would keep to her word and actually do this for him. He started to orchestrate a few things in his mind, as he continued to walk towards the Land of Waves. Of course he would have to wait at the bridge for a few days. But what would he do when he had the prisoner in his grasp? This was a question he would wait to answer.

Perhaps he could start rumors that the organization behind the problems in Kumogakure was still alive and kicking, and even have Meidia meet the man half way, or even... A small evil smile began to play on his lips; perhaps he could have Meidia use the transformation jutsu and pretend to be the man's lover. But of course Meidia would have to be careful, the man could probably see through deceptions like this one.

Meidia would have to study how the woman acted, to play the part properly. Kiran would wait and see if Meidia succeeded in the kidnapping of the girl first, perhaps he could toy with the woman when she was in his grasp as well. Kiran paused in his step as he felt someone familiar coming up behind him,

"Yes Gan what is it?" he asked into the shadows. A man dressed in grey clothing came into his view, bowing his head, and quickly speaking,

"Kiran-sama, are you sure you can trust that woman again? She has failed way too many times in the past." Kiran growled at the man impatiently,

"She is on her final warning Gan, she will either succeed or she knows not to return to me, without bringing me that woman I have asked to have captured." "Now you will trust my judgement or I will kill you here where you stand, either way, I can not afford to loose more members of this Organization, we are already spread thin enough."

Gan bowed his head apologetically, "Gomen nasai Kiran-sama, I meant no disrespect in questioning your judgement…I will allow you to continue to have faith in the woman then." With this Gan quickly headed out of his sight before Kiran could say anything else. Gan was starting to get on his last nerve, perhaps it was soon time indeed to find a new member of his organization who could keep an eye on the Land of Earth.

"The Dark Oracle does not need idiots like him running this organization, if he can not do as he is told…" Muttered Kiran as he then continued on his journey towards the Great Naruto Bridge in the Land of Waves, an evil cackle once again broke the silence of the night.