Hiya, guys!
:D
Man, I had such a good time writing this chapter out. Not of the content, but because of all the ideas I've had for this story. I know how it's going to end now. :)
eternalsmiles: Right! Five points awarded to you! :)
Princess of Storms: Hehe. You're right also. Thanks very much. :)
Shubhs: Thanks! And yes, Cho is Neji's wife.
xXanime-mistressXx: Right! :) It's hard for me to write overemotional scenes and feelings for characters. Take it from me, Kohaku's very upset when he's crying in front of one of his teammates he's known for maybe . . . five months. I jam to that song whenever it comes on the radio. :D Thanks!
Mysterious Bluerose: Hahaha. Neji was exaggerating with the alcoholic accusations. Choji in disguise? That reminds me of a Sixties song. :D Yeah, she's a bitter old woman. ;)
Mitsu-Inu: Too much? He IS upset. Read between the lines. :) I don't really see a reason for Hinata or Hanabi to visit TenTen. So circle that last option. :) Thanks!
WTFFFFFFFFFFFF: That was a cliffhanger? Sweet! :D
Thanks for all of the reviews, views, alerts, and favorites, guys! I really appreciate them. :)
Disclaimer: I didn't believe Sasuke was dead for an instant. :P
6.
"Seems like your dad's confused."
Kohaku eyed Noriko, who was sitting cross-legged across from him, twisting her previously given friendship bracelet from Hayato.
She had listened attentively, allowing Kohaku to finish his complete story before commenting.
Hopefully, her advice would help him out some.
Kohaku frustratingly kneaded his forehead with his knuckles.
"Confused? He was . . . kissing her like he loved her," Kohaku muttered, his voice cracking again with fresh emotion.
Hastily, Noriko patted his knee.
"Kohaku, people make mistakes. Sometimes . . . sometimes people marry each other for the wrong reasons."
"My parents do love each other! They—they got married. . ."
Noriko unwound the bracelet and started braiding it back again.
"Do they—do they act like they love each other? Do they kiss and joke and stuff?"
Kohaku bit his tongue.
"No," he eventually choked out; the weight that had appeared after he saw his father put more pressure on his head and throat and stomach. "They fight all the time."
"Well . . . maybe your dad did find someone he loved. TenTen-sensei. . ."
"But he's still married to my mom!" Kohaku protested, tears blending with the snot that was leaking from his nose.
Noriko stopped playing with the bracelet and fastened it back to her wrist.
Kohaku sighed, eyeing his friend hopelessly.
"I don't know," she finally murmured.
Kohaku had thought as much.
—
Grudgingly, TenTen opened the door, allowing Cho inside.
Cho entered without preliminary, sweeping into the kitchen.
After stalling as long as she possibly could by the door, TenTen followed after her, leaning against the doorpost.
TenTen stared at the woman she'd secretly hated and envied for the past twelve years.
The gaze Cho returned was evaluating, calculating, like the heartless person she was.
"I know you've been sleeping with my husband," Cho began, cutting immediately to the chase.
TenTen cocked her head at Cho, precarious.
"Don't play dumb, Cho. You've known this for years."
Cho's eyes burned and narrowed.
"Be that as it may, it's still fact, however long I've known it. He's my husband, TenTen."
"And he's my friend. You can't bar him from seeing me. He's a grown man and he can do what he wants."
Cho scoffed, a seething hiss.
"You're unbelievable, you know that? Enticing men—!"
"I didn't entice anyone!" TenTen shouted. "Neji came to me! He can't stand you!"
Cho glowered at TenTen.
Despite herself, TenTen flinched.
"Everything was fine before you came and ruined everything. We had just had Kohaku and—!"
"Don't kid yourself. He was never happy with you."
"He had a child with me," contradicted Cho.
TenTen's fingernails dug into her skin.
"Because he had to!" she spat murderously. "If Neji had been given the choice, he would've married me and we all know it!"
The corner of Cho's eye twitched.
Cho had had enough; she moved towards the front door.
"Perhaps," she murmured, her voice level once again. "Stay away from my husband."
TenTen couldn't resist from quipping right before Cho slammed the door behind her, "I'll stay away from him for as long as he can stay away from me!"
Cho did not reply.
—
Kohaku had to work himself up to going to see his father.
He had chickened out numerous times in the past twenty minutes, always stopping himself at the last minute.
He knew, in the deepest recesses of his mind, that he had to go through with it. If he didn't, it would just drive him mad until he either went crazy or burst under the pressure. He had to do it.
Kohaku found his father in his office.
When he tried the door, it was locked.
Kohaku figured he was hiding from his mother, who had come home in a thunderstorm of an attitude.
Kohaku knocked, hesitant.
From inside, Kohaku heard his father's chair scrape against the wood and his father's heavy footsteps.
The door was unlocked and wrested open, leaving Neji staring down at Kohaku in confusion.
"I need to speak with you, Father."
Neji's eyebrows knitted together.
"All right," Neji said, moving aside to let Kohaku in.
Kohaku stopped in front of Neji's desk, hearing the click as Neji once again locked the door.
Kohaku looked down at his feet.
"What do you need, Kohaku?" Neji asked, now sitting in his desk chair.
Kohaku clenched his jaw and glanced up.
His father was waiting.
"I—I saw you. . . I saw you with TenTen-sensei," Kohaku whispered, almost breathlessly.
Neji appeared puzzled, a reaction Kohaku hadn't been expecting.
Then his eyes clicked with comprehension and he was sitting back in his chair, stunned.
"Kohaku. . ."
"Why? Why did you do this?" Kohaku whimpered, his pale face growing quickly blotchy.
"I didn't—," Neji stopped himself. He sighed and started again, "You don't know the whole story, all right? You don't know. . ."
"Then tell me," Kohaku wailed, sniffling. "Tell me everything."
Neji stared at his son, torn.
Then his jaw clenched and he gave him one swift nod.
"Fine. I'll tell you."
Neji cradled his head, trying to rub away the migraine he was getting.
He sucked in a breath and began to speak.
"I've been friends with TenTen for twenty-two years, Kohaku. We were teammates for the longest time, with Guy and Lee. I know her more than anyone, and she knows me."
Neji shook his head.
"When I was twenty-one, I was informed by the main branch that I was to enter into an arranged marriage. There was . . . concern that if I married someone that wasn't Hyuga and conceived a child, it wouldn't have Byakugan. The main branch wouldn't risk it, even if it cost me the life I wanted."
Kohaku swallowed.
"With TenTen-sensei," he clarified.
Neji nodded once.
"Yes."
He shook his head again.
"I loved her, Kohaku. She—we—I was prepared to marry her. If I had had a few more weeks, months . . . Kami knows I would have proposed."
Neji looked down at his folded hands, thoughtful.
"Was TenTen-sensei. . . was she angry?" Kohaku queried.
Neji sharply met his son's gaze.
"Of course she was angry. She was angry and jealous and upset. She was even more upset when she saw your mother."
Kohaku's face contorted into bemusement.
"What do you mean?"
"Your mother. She was beautiful," Neji muttered simply, with a shrug. "TenTen was jealous. She doesn't consider herself pretty or attractive. I made her feel that way when I was with her. And then she lost that, along with a companion in one fell swoop from the main branch.
"I stayed away from her for a year after I was married to your mother. It was . . . difficult. And then your mother had you and I was . . . excited. I went and told TenTen about you, merely hours after you were born."
Neji closed his eyes, remembering.
Kohaku held himself back from interrupting.
"Kohaku, I've made mistakes, all right?"
"Like TenTen-sensei?"
Neji's eyes opened in a flash; they were burning coldly.
"No. I was referring to something else. I don't regret anything I've ever done with TenTen. I love her."
"Then you regret marrying my mother and having me?" Kohaku's tone was hurt and irrational. "We're the cause of you being miserable?"
Neji watched him.
"I don't regret having you, Kohaku. You're my son, no matter who your mother is. You're my son and I love you."
Kohaku blinked away more tears, but a few got away and stole down his flushed cheeks.
"So. . . You've just been sneaking around with TenTen-sensei all these years I've been growing up?"
Now that Kohaku finally said it aloud, it made sense. The frequent absences, the fights between his parents, everything. . .
"Yes," Neji ultimately murmured.
Kohaku stared hard at the man before him.
He could see the dark bags under his eyes that he had not noticed before and the spidery veins on his neck and hands.
Signs of age.
It occurred to Kohaku that before now, he had had a misconception of adults.
Before all of this had happened, he saw his father as a figment figure; someone who only possessed two forms of emotion: anger and distance.
But now . . . he saw who his father really was.
Someone with underlying passion and desire that had been smothered sufficiently. Someone constrained by a decision that hadn't even been his own. Someone who loved someone else, deeply, that he could not openly express.
Kohaku stared at his father.
He was a man confined to limits, criss-crossing in and out of his life so tightly that it was like a maze of many strings.
None of which he could break.
Kohaku felt pity.
He could not speak, however, because seconds later, the door opened roughly behind them.
Kohaku turned, spying a kunai shoved in where the lock was supposed to be.
His mother looked furious.
"Get out," she directed to Neji, her voice sparking so that Kohaku almost expected electricity to form around her mouth.
Kohaku gazed up at his father in defeat as he left.
—
Neji went to the only place he thought he could go.
TenTen's house.
When he entered, the house was quiet.
Venturing further, Neji saw TenTen was already in bed, sleeping with her face pressed into her pillow.
He smiled slightly and trudged into her room, slipping off his shirt and shoes.
He lied down next to her and closed his eyes, sighing.
The next he thing he knew, it was morning and TenTen was prodding him in the chest.
He grumpily opened his eyes to look at her.
"Want to explain to me what you're doing here?" she asked, amused and curious.
"Cho. She kicked me out of the house."
TenTen's forehead wrinkled.
"She kicked you out?"
"Yes. Great, isn't it? She could be telling Kohaku anything and he'd believe her. He's always liked her better."
"You're his father," TenTen protested. "He trusts you."
Neji sent her a splintering glance.
"Sure, he trusts me," Neji rattled out, sarcastic and reckless.
TenTen's face crumpled.
"Wait. What do you mean about Kohaku?" she murmured, confused.
"Kohaku. He knows. He came and talked to me. I told him everything. . ."
TenTen blanched.
"So he knows about us? What did he say?!"
Neji shrugged.
"He didn't say much. He was . . . quiet."
TenTen exhaled and lied on her back.
"I guess the game is up," TenTen commented.
Neji did not respond.
Oh, just you wait.
We haven't even hit the stunner yet. ;D
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