A/N: Wow, a lot of people guessed rightly. (is that even a word?)
I've been reading a lot of KankTen fics lately, so I guess that's why its him..
Not that anyone asked :P
Thanks to all my reviewers!
Enjoy chapter Six! (it's not as angsty as I'd originally hoped but, eh) :D
Disclaimer: I would not be writing a Naruto fanfiction if I owned.
Kankorou blinked and looked at the woman in front of him quizzically. "Father? I'm not a father."
"Yes you are." Tenten replied rather coldly. "This is your son." She grasped onto Haterou's shoulder tightly as he examined the young boy. He did look like him, same messy light brown hair and same face shape.
But he still didn't believe it. "I don't have a son. You would have told me if he was ours."
"But he his." The coldness never left her voice. "What kind of person would I be if I told you that you had a son while you were studying abroad? I didn't want you to lose your business opportunities. You're an entrepreneur now, aren't you? I didn't want you to stop from doing what you wanted to. Besides, you were eighteen, so I doubt you could have handled it.
Before Kankorou had a chance to reply Haterou tugged on her sweater again. "Okaa-san, he's not my daddy. I don't have a daddy."
Tenten didn't reply to her son. Instead, she just glared at the man in front of her. "Why did you come back? You haven't even written to me in five years and you just come bombarding into my house without giving me any notice."
"I called you yesterday." He muttered silently.
"A phone call. The only one I've gotten from you since high school. You didn't even tell me why you were back." She said, exasperated. Tenten put a hand on the doorknob so she could slam it shut at a moment's notice. "And don't give be the crap about 'wanting to see me again' because I won't buy it."
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "We're back with Gaara, he needs to make a business deal and me any my sis tagged along. I decided to drop by." She locked eyes with her. "Come on, don't be mad. I forgot."
When he made to grab her hand, Tenten flinched away as if he were the plague. "You forgot? Well you haven't changed a bit, you still always say the wrong things." She threw the rose at his feet and began to shut the door.
"Hey, I'm sorry, okay?" When Kankorou pushed open the door that was just about to close in his face, Neji thought it was the time to step in.
"You should go. She obviously doesn't want to talk to you right now." His voice was even colder than Tenten's as he stepped in the doorway.
Kankorou looked at him as if he was just seeing him for the first time. "Hey, I know you, you went to our high school." Then he looked over his shoulder to Tenten. "What's he doing here?"
It was silent for a moment, then she burst out. "Neji's my boyfriend." It wasn't exactly true, seeing as they'd only met again three days ago, but Kankorou didn't need to know that.
"Boyfriend? What the hell do you mean, 'he's your boyfriend'?" The anger could be clearly heard in his voice.
"Exactly what it sounds like, baka. Neji. Is. My. Boyfriend." The anger could be clearly heard in her voice as well. Neji began wondering if it was safe to be standing between the two.
The other man scowled. "You're not allowed to have a boyfriend. I'm your boyfriend."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean? I haven't seen you for five bloody years! I'm sure you've had several girlfriends by now, and don't tell me that you haven't, you've always been a player."
"That's different!"
"How?" Tenten was screaming now, and she had pushed past Neji to yell in his face.
As if as an answer Kankorou pulled her close to him and pressed his lips to hers. Neji sighed and wondered why all this had to happen to him. Before he could wonder any more, he found himself in between the two and glaring at the man. "Leave her alone, and don't you dare force yourself on her. "
Right now, Neji would bet that Tenten was glaring at the man in front of him with a look that says 'what-are-you-gonna-do-now?'
Too bad it wasn't him who chose what to do.
The next moment there was a sharp pain in his cheek and he heard Tenten cry "Neji!"
He moved a hand up and rubbed his jaw where Kankorou had just punched him. He rotated his jaw to make sure it wasn't broken and stood straight again, the hit hadn't knocked him over but it was close.
"I don't want to fight you. Go away now." Almost before he got the words out of his mouth, another punch went flying at him. Expecting this, Neji ducked and punched the other man in the gut.
Kankorou stumbled backwards and reached into his jacket. The next moment he had flipped open his pocket knife and pointed it directly at Neji's neck. "Get away from Tenten. She's mine."
Tenten had finally gotten enough of this. After pushing her son up the stairs and to his room, she went back to the front door and spat in his face. "I'm not an object. I belong to no one. Now put the knife down before I call the police for abuse."
"Not until you tell me that you're not interested in this pretty boy." He hissed through clenched teeth. "Get away from Tenten, or I'm going to cut your hair shorter than mine."
Neji looked at him wearily. "That's not a very good threat."
For a moment it actually looked like Kankorou was going to slice him. Then a monotone voice came into the scene. "Kankorou. What are you doing?"
All three of the people turned to see three more people come up the driveway. Tenten recognised Shikamaru right away because of his hair. The other two she recognised as Kankorou's siblings as they came nearer.
"Control your temper, Kankorou." It was the redhead that spoke. Then Gaara flicked his sea foam green eyes to Neji. "Are you Hyuuga Neji?"
Neji sighed. Why did everything have to happen to him? "And what if I am?"
"Hyuuga Hiashi-san sent me to see you about the business deal between Hyuuga Corp. and Sabaku Corp."
"He did, did he? I'm not surprised, Hiashi-sama made me deal with Uchiha Corp last year." He said this under his breath and only Tenten heard him. Then out of his jacket he pulled out a card and handed it to Gaara. "Well, it's getting late. Why don't you come by my office tomorrow afternoon? Here's my card, we can discuss everything there."
"Very well. I'll see you tomorrow."
Gaara turned to leave and with one glare from his younger brother Kankorou left too. But not without sending a last 'this-isn't-over' look to Neji. Temari and Shikamaru also left without a word.
Neji sighed and ran a hand through his long hair, starting to shudder at the thought of it being shorter that short. He turned and walked back into the house. After a moment's hesitation Tenten called after him. "Hey, Neji, are you okay?"
"I'm fine." His voice was colder than he'd meant it to be, but he couldn't help but feel a small pain in his jaw and hoped he had hit the other guy hard enough. He walked to the closet and grabbed his coat. "I should get going now."
"Listen, I'm sorry. Maybe I should have told you sooner, but I didn't think he'd come back so suddenly." When he walked out the door she gaped. "You're not planning on walking to your house, are you? You'll get a cold."
He stopped walking and turned, his pale eyes dancing with apparent amusement. "Then how do you propose I get home?"
Tenten dug into her pocket and pulled out her car keys and tossed them to him. "Take my car. You can pick us up tomorrow at seven thirty. See you then." She turned quickly to hide her smile and softly shut the door. Through the eyehole, she watched him look at the door for about a minute then walked to her car and drove off.
"Okaa-san?" A small tired voice made her tear away from the peephole.
"Yes, sweetie?" Tenten braced herself for Haterou to ask her about his father.
Haterou yawned. "Will you tell me a story?"
The question surprised her and she grinned. "Yes of course." She took his hand and led him to the couch. She sat down first and pulled him onto her lap. "Which one do you want to hear? Wait no, let me guess: the one about ninjas? That's your favourite."
"No. I want to tell that one to Neji-chan tomorrow." Tenten laughed out loud. He wouldn't be too happy to hear a little kid calling him 'Neji-chan' "Can you tell me the one about the train?"
"All right." So Tenten told her story, she was rather good at making up stories. But she wasn't really paying attention to herself talk. In the back of her mind, she was thinking about Neji and what he thought of her now.
When she finished talking she saw that Haterou had fallen asleep. Smiling, she carried him up to his room and tucked him in his bed. The rolled over and mumbled. "Good night, okaa-san. I love you."
"I love you too."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Are you excited for school today, Haterou?" Tenten did up the zipper to his jacket and patted his head. It was almost seven thirty and they were waiting for Neji to arrive.
Haterou smiled. "Mmhm! It's Sachi-chan's turn for show and tell today, he's bringing in his pet lizard!" Tenten grinned at how happy her was.
"Lizard, wow. That's really cool. You'll have to tell me all about it later today, kay?" She walked over the door when it rang. "Morning, Neji."
"Good morning." He went over and ruffled Haterou's hair. "Morning, Haterou."
"Good morning, Neji-chan!" Tenten laughed as his eyebrow twitched. Then the young boy turned to his mother. "Okaa-san, can I get a lizard?"
Tenten's smile faltered a bit. She didn't mind the lizard part; she minded what they would have to feed it. "We'll think about it, okay? Let's get you to school."
They walked to the car, and as Tenten got to the drivers seat Neji stopped her and dangled the keys in front of her face. She rolled her eyes and moved to the passenger's side. After turning around to see that Haterou was buckled in, she put her own seat belt on and told Neji the directions to the school.
They ride there was in a comfortable silence. When they reached the school, both adults waved good-bye to Haterou who happily ran off to join his friends. As soon as they were on the road again, Neji spoke.
"Do you mind if I stop by my cousin's house? I get my car back today."
"Hinata?" Tenten remembered him saying something about his car, but she couldn't quite get the exact words into her head.
Neji sighed. "If only. I lent it to Hanabi, I'll be lucky if it's still in one piece."
Tenten laughed. "The why'd you lend it to her?"
"Because she's still in high school and lives with Hiashi-sama. She'll tell him every little thing I do unless I…pay a price, let's say."
She laughed again. "I see. She sounds…lovely."
He grunted and didn't say anything else. Within a few minutes they had pulled up to a rather, or very, large house. Neji smirked as he saw the girls face. "This is the home of the owner of Hyuuga Corp. Did you think he'd be living in a townhouse?"
"Actually yes." She tilted her head to see if she could see around the large structure. She couldn't. Then she turned to Neji with large eyes. "Please, can I go in? Please?"
Neji made the mistake of looking into her chocolate brown eyes. He sighed and got out of the car. Tenten squealed in delight and got out as well. Neji made his way to the door, and without even knocking got the key out of his pocket and pushed it open.
As it opened a teenaged girl walked out in a navy blue school uniform, the glass of milk in her hand made it obvious that she was in the middle of breakfast. Her eyes opened wide. "Neji-nii, hi. Uhm you're here for the car, right?" She grinned sheepishly. "Could I keep it for another week, please? I have a date tonight."
"All the more reason to get it back." He held out his hand expectantly and, though she held up well in the glare contest, Hanabi walked over to the closet and pulled the keys out of her pocket.
Then she turned to Tenten. "Who are you?"
The brunette, who was busy admiring the chandelier hanging above them quickly, held out her hand to the younger Hyuuga. "I'm Tenten, nice to meet you. You must be Hinata's sister."
"Oh, you're friends with Hinata-nee?" Hanabi shook Tenten's outstretched hand. "So, what are you doing with him then?" She nodded to Neji. "You're not together, are you? You can do so much better."
Tenten grinned and chanced a look over to Neji who looked as if he was trying his hardest to tune out the conversation. "I'd like my keys, Hanabi."
"Yeah, yeah, calm down." The young girl walked over and handed him his keys. As soon as he began to turn away she grabbed his cheek. "Neji-nii, you have a bruise." Then a wicked gleam crossed her pale eyes. "Nothing happened, right? Otou-san wouldn't be very happy if you'd gotten in a fight."
"Hey, Hanabi." Tenten pulled the young girl away and slung her arm around her shoulder and led her away from Neji. "We should get together sometime, ne?" When they were far enough, Tenten slipped a bill into Hanabi's hand and lower her voice. "Let's never talk about the bruise on his cheek again, kay?"
Hanabi looked at the bill first then back at Tenten with a grin on her face. "You've got yourself a deal." Then she turned back to Neji. "At least let me take the car to school. You can follow me to make sure I don't do anything! I don't feel like walking all that way."
Neji sighed and handed back the keys. "Fine. Tenten and I are following." Then they walked out and opened the garage door.
Tenten couldn't believe her eyes.
Sitting comfortably inside the garage was a sleek and shiny pearl white BMW Coupe. She was jealous. Very jealous.
"Hanabi, give me the keys I'm driving." The younger girl handed them over with a smirk. Neji, not wanting to say anything got into Tenten's blue Chevvy, which wasn't comparable to his car and turned on the ignition.
The two girls got into the car and it was quiet for a moment after Hanabi gave the instructions. But it wasn't quiet for very long. "Soo Tenten. Where did Neji-nii get that bruise?"
The brunette sighed as she turned to corner. "I guess you could say he got it from my ex…"
"Wow. That's intense." She smirked. "So was he a significant ex?"
"Yeah. We kinda had a kid together." Though she was keeping an eye on the road, she couldn't miss the younger girl's eye's pop.
Hanabi gaped for a moment. "So what about my cousin? Do you like him? Love him?"
"You're a nosy brat, you know that?" This got a smug smile. "I think I do. I think I might love him."
A/N: We come nearing the climax..
dun dun duuun!
Kanky's going to be in more in the furture :D
Thanks for reading!
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fanny-kun