The sound of the door slamming open was enough to have Tenten sitting straight up in bed, wide awake and suddenly aware of a familiar chakra presence, moments before the lights flickered on and Shikamaru strode purposefully into the room. He looked decidedly more stressed than she had seen him in a long time as he scanned the room before looking back to her, not the slightest bit concerned about barging into her bedroom in the middle of the night.

"Time to go, Tenten." he gestured toward the door, "Get whatever you need and get dressed. Quickly."

Tenten sat in shocked incomprehension for a moment longer before leaping into action. She knew the ANBU captain almost as well as Lee and Neji, and if he was showing up at her apartment in the middle of the night with that tense look on his face and demanding she leave, then she trusted he had a damn good reason. He made no effort to leave or provide her with any privacy as she quickly threw off her shirt and grabbed three sets of clean clothes - one to put on and two she proceeded to pack into her training bag that was sitting on the nearby chair. As she pulled on the pants, Shikamaru promptly snatched up the bag and tossed the strap across his shoulder, his gaze flickering back and forth between Tenten and the window.

"What's going on, Shika?" she used his nickname infrequently, normally only when she wanted to have a serious or important conversation with him. He didn't miss the meaning, and his expression softened somewhat before hardening again as he explained the situation.

"You're not safe here. There has been a development in our investigation. We have to go."

He was out of the room before she could respond and she struggled to collect her thoughts before rushing after him into the hallway.

"Why am I not safe? I don't even know anything about the investigation, it has nothing to do with me."

Shikamaru turned and fixed her with a look that said it didn't matter what she did or didn't know.

"Later, not here," he stated simply.

He started out the door and Tenten took one quick look around before hurrying after him down the back streets of Konoha. Ten minutes later they turned off the street and entered a small house surrounded by beautiful trees and gardens near the outskirts of the village. There was a single soft light glowing in the front window. It took a few moments for her to recognise it, but Tenten had been here before, once. It was always more difficult to identify landmarks in the dark, even as a ninja, and as they drew closer she silently wracked her brain as to why this place was so vaguely familiar. She had been here before, she was sure of it. The gardens provided a certain amount of privacy from the nearby homes and were different to other gardens in the village.

Then as they reached the front door the realisation struck her. Temari. That was who she had come here to see. This was where Temari stayed when she visited Konoha, but Tenten had no idea why Shikamaru would bring her here.

"What are we doing here?" she whispered quietly as they slid the front door open and stepped inside.

"Hiding you," the deep voice was instantly recognisable but Tenten was nonetheless shocked that she had not sensed Neji's chakra before entering the house. He materialised from the shadows in the corner of the room as he stepped forward into the light.

"Neji," when they had last spoken the conversation had been something of an all out fight, and she was still so conflicted about their encounter that she couldn't decide whether she wanted to hit him or hug him. She settled for standing completely still, sensing the tension humming through both men.

"Ten," he stepped over and reached his left hand out to stroke her cheek, "are you alright?"

His arm slid down to her shoulder as he came to a stop beside her and directed a grateful nod in Shikamaru's direction. She could almost feel the two taller men communicating silently above her head as she automatically leaned into him despite herself.

"I'm fine. But I would be better if someone could explain to me what is going on," she returned with a slightly sharp tone as she turned from one to the other in search of an answer. Shikamaru looked toward Neji, who sighed slightly and tightened his arm around her before answering,

"It is a precaution..." he started but Tenten was tired and not interested in secretive games in the middle of the night.

"Because of the investigation into whoever was doing whatever the Hokage wanted to two of you to look into. But why am I here?" she demanded.

"As I said," Neji continued with a slight edge to his voice, he had no time to fight with her and he was sick of doing so, even if it was his fault. All he wanted to do was protect her, "it is a precaution to ensure that you are not caught up in the collateral."

Shikamaru noticed the confusion flash across Tenten's face and saw the subtle but visible pain in Neji's eyes and decided to help them both out.

"We found out that someone was feeding information to an arms dealer, the brother of one of our top criminal targets, who was eliminated in one of your missions about twelve months ago. We have identified the traitor, as a member of the Hyuuga clan suffering from a serious case of jealous vengence," Shikamaru paused to allow Tenten time to make the necessary connections.

"They were stealing clan secrets?" her head whipped around to stare at Neji. He didn't make eye contact, instead letting his eyes settle somewhere around her right shoulder. She wondered briefly if Lord Hiashi was aware of this and what his reaction would be if he didn't already know. She turned back to Shikamaru and questioned, "what were they looking for?"

Neji's body stiffened beside her and she could see Shikamaru wince before he answered.

"Alongside the torture and death of Neji and his Uncle, and usurping of the clan leadership…you."

Tenten shuddered involuntarily at the word torture being associated with either of those names – she had a lot of respect for Neji's uncle despite their somewhat strained relationship – before comprehending his full statement, "Me?"

She would have laughed if they were making any kind of sense at all but it was as if every word that Shikamaru said made less sense than the last. Was it possible they had both gone slightly crazy from all this intense, cloak and dagger investigative work? She shook her head slightly,

"I think maybe you two have been Jūken-ed one too many times, because in case you haven't noticed, I'm not Hyuuga. Not even close. I don't even have a clan. If they wanted to kill Neji and Lord Hiashi, what would they want with me?" she questioned before adding, "I would never help them!"

"You're right, you are not a Hyuuga," Shikamaru explained cryptically while Neji remained suspiciously silent against her, left hand wrapped around her shoulder with his fingers splayed wide and pulling slightly towards himself, as though he could physically shield her from the conversation, "You're even better."

Tenten had never in her life been told she was better than Neji. In fact she was pretty certain almost no one had been, and judging from the stricken look on his face he either didn't like the idea or he felt deeply responsible for it. She couldn't quite tell which.

"Better how?" she darkly interrupted Shikamaru, who was mumbling something about how troublesome 'it' all was, "What do they want?"

"They want you because you are the perfect leverage," he met her eye with an expression designed to convey his seriousness in this matter, "Neji is an unrivaled prodigy of the clan and has possibly the strongest Byakugan in his family, we all know that. The two of you know each other so well you might as well be the same person at times," he then proceeded to enumerate the lesser reasons that someone might be interested in abducting Tenten, though she began to feel they were a build to his main point and not the point itself.

"Everyone has seen you train and fight together, and your training means that you know his blind spot like no one else - you know how to protect it and how to attack it. You are a renowned Weapons Mistress. Neji is so familiar with your chakra that he can pull you into his Heavenly Spin. You are the only person I know capable of matching him in a spar..." Shikamaru trailed off, unsure what else to say, and glanced over to Neji as though checking whether he had left anything out.

"He can't pull me into the Heavenly Spin," Tenten corrected him absently, "I can stand beside him while he does it around us both…but that doesn't mean anything - we spent a long time and plenty of injuries trying to get that right before he learned how to do it. And I would never kill him, by the way, even when he is an ass," she shook her head and frowned as she spoke, tossing her wavy, unbound hair around with each jerk of her head.

"It doesn't matter how we worked it out, Ten." Neji spoke for the first time since he had greeted her, his tone soft and a little hurt,

"They know what I am capable of and they know they can't get to me directly. Originally I think he just intended to kill me but after he saw us together this morning he must have realised that you were a weakness they might exploit…" he trailed off uncertainly which caught her immediate attention – Neji was so seldom uncertain that it seemed utterly unnatural but it had become a bit of a habit lately, and it worried her.

"Okay," she conceded as she pulled away from Neji to stand between both men, "so they want to abduct me? Or kill me to get to you? Either way, what was their plan? Break into my apartment and finish me off, then what?"

"All we are sure of," sighed Shikamaru, "is that they want the secrets of the Byakugan and possibly other special techniques in exchange for helping Neji's cousin murder him and take over the clan. As per so many lunatic criminals out there, they seem to have an unhealthy obsession with attaining the Byakugan by any means necessary. Neji himself won't get them the Byakugan," he looked to Neji in deference. The rest of the story was his to tell and Shikamaru was not even sure he wanted to be there to witness it.

"As it is well known that a branch Hyuuga is useless for that - once we die the Byakugan is sealed and useless." Neji continued the explanation, carefully gauging Tenten's reaction with each word. She noticed his eyes drop for a moment and an emotion she couldn't identify crossed his face for just a second before he continued,

"Whether they were able to kill me or not, they would get nothing from me, and the odds of being able to take down Hiashi without killing him are slim, especially now that we have removed him to Shikamaru's apartment. They would get his bloodline trait but that is all. Because of me, they have found an attractive third option to obtain it and the all it's secrets…you."

Everything they said made sense, but whether it was the abrupt disruption from sleep or just pure inability to follow their thought patterns, Tenten still was not sure where she fit in. Shikamaru could clearly see this, but Neji was looking at her as though she should know exactly what a threat she was and how they would use her. She would never betray him, nor Konoha so long as she had control of herself, though it made sense that a genjustu used on her could be a concern.

"I am here so you can protect me from a genjustu?" she questioned slowly, uncertainly.

Neji met her eyes one last time, with a definite look of determination and perhaps something akin to guilt, "You're pregnant, Tenten. You are here so I can protect my family."

An ice-cold shiver ran through the length of her body at those very unexpected words, stilling her immediately, but she refused to believe what she was hearing. At this point, Shikamaru mumbled something about checking the perimeter and backed quietly out of the room so as to allow them some privacy, and possibly protect himself from any adverse reaction Tenten might have to this sudden news.

"What? Don't be ridiculous, Neji. I..I am not pregnant. I'm fine…I've just been a little tired…and stressed lately…and kind of moody...I mean...it's not impossible but it's not...no..."

"Ten," he was pleading in his use of her nickname and fully aware of her suddenly backing unconsciously towards the nearby couch. He let her, staying back as she sat down heavily. She appeared to be weighing the probabilities in her head, evaluating the possible truth of his statement against her own certainty that he must be completely and utterly wrong. After a few tense moments she turned to look up at him, eyes wide and shining in the low light.

"How?" she whispered with her hand over her mouth.

Neji moved silently to sit beside her, eyebrow slightly raised as he half-jokingly answered, "You don't really need me to explain that, do you?"

"N...No," Tenten stumbled over her answer, unsure whether to be upset that he found this at all funny, and torn between wanting to burst into shocked tears and throw kunai at him, "I just don't understand. Why would...I don't feel like I'm…How could you possibly know that when I don't?" she finished, completely uncertain.

Neji was perched on the edge of the couch now, elbows resting on his knees as he carefully listened to her. He noticed for the first time since she had arrived just how rushed she must have been when she left - her hair was still loose, shimmering in the soft yellow light. She was wearing what he knew were her favourite pair of comfortable boots thrown together with random pants and shirt. She looked decidedly vulnerable and betrayed by his knowledge of her physical state, and he berated himself again for not mentioning it to her as soon as he found out. If he hadn't been so busy being a petty, possessive coward then he might have.

"I was going to tell you," he started, "before all of this happened. It was an accident that I even found out."

"What do you mean?" she looked over at him while leaning back to pull her knees to her chest in a self-protective manner.

"I used my Byakugan on you at Hinata's engagement party. When we were in the hallway and I used it to make sure no one was around, I turned back to you with it activated and noticed a disruption in your chakra." He glanced furtively in her direction to assess her response but Tenten remained uncharacteristically still. He turned his eyes back to the floor again.

"I was not sure what it meant, but I tried it again a few days later and the disruption was even more obvious," he ignored her irritated look at his admitting to spying on her with his bloodline trait, "While I was doing research for the investigation, I found a book that described non-combative uses for my bloodline trait and there was no one else I could think to ask, so I showed it to Hinata and she recognised it as a second chakra signature. I didn't know how to tell you," he finished lamely. Neji knew how much Tenten hated being left out, and the fact that he had not informed her of her own condition would probably not get him back in her good graces anytime soon.

"Hinata knows?!"

"Yes…" he winced at her tone and then saw recognition cross her face – Tenten had seen Hinata less than 24 hours ago and she hadn't mentioned anything, despite being more concerned than necessary over Tenten's stress levels after her altercation with Neji outside the compound.

"You made her lie to me." It was a statement of fact more than a question but he answered anyway.

His tone was rose slightly as he attempted to explain, "I was trying to protect you when we had that fight – I thought if I made you mad enough and could keep you at arms length then something like this wouldn't happen. I realised as soon as I walked out that it was a mistake, so I asked Hinata to talk to you, make sure you stayed at a distance but that you were alright. I knew you would expect me to cool down and come back like usual, that you would notice when I didn't."

A look of understanding crossed Tenten's face then and she looked less uncomfortable and confused than she had since she arrived, "That's why she told me to let you work it out," he nodded affirmation but still avoided eye contact. She had always been unbelievably intuitive when it came to him.

"Neji, look at me…" he raised his gaze to oblige her and was surprised when she turned to face towards him, taking his hands and resting them under her own on top of her bent knees, "Be honest…did you mean any of what you said in that fight?"

She felt his body tense where their hands touched and where her toes were pressed against the underside of his thigh.

"Not the way it came out, no."

"But…you were angry at me for taking those missions?"

"I was angry, but at myself and I took it out on you. I…After I read the reports I felt responsible for you having to take them…" Neji often found it difficult to talk about his feelings even with Tenten, especially when they sounded as inarticulate as they did right now.

"So what you are trying to tell me is that you snooped through my mission reports and got details I didn't want you to know and felt guilty about it being your fault even though it wasn't. Then you go and get in a fight with me and leave 'to protect me' without even telling me I might be in danger, and knowing that I am pregnant, so you send your cousin to place peacemaker and spy on me! While you continue to avoid me, I might add. Then to top it all off you have Shikamaru kidnap me in the middle of the night so you can explain? That is ridiculous…" she didn't seem anywhere near upset with the idea now and he wasn't sure how to respond.

"Well, when you put it like that it sounds ridiculous, but…"

"And incredibly sweet" she finished for him.

"What?" his eyes shot back up to look at her and the smile on her face was both dazzling and sympathetic.

"I love that you want so badly to protect me, Neji. Knowing who am I, what I do and that I don't need it…I've only ever had myself to depend on and you have always been a bit of a lone wolf so the fact that you want to play that role in my life is part of why I love you. Having said that, did it ever occur to you to just talk to me about how you felt, maybe ask if I would stop taking those missions or why I chose to take them in the first place? To push me to talk about it even though I don't always want to?"

Now it was Neji's turn to be thrown for a loop by an unexpected confession. He had always thought he was overprotective, selfish and sometimes outside his rights in wanting to shield her from danger. Never had he expected that it meant so much to her, or to hear her say that she loved him. She loved him! And suddenly the existence of an unborn child composed of a little of each of them took on a whole new depth of meaning and importance he hadn't appreciated until now.

"Why did you take them?" was all he knew how to properly articulate while all these emotions washed through him. Tenten's hands turned his over to lace their fingers absently as she explained,

"I hate doing them, and sometimes it's difficult even to sleep next to you afterwards – it just feels so deceitful…or dirty…but I did it because before we were together, if it wasn't me, it was Hinata or Sakura or Ino, and they all had people in their lives who couldn't handle having them go on those types of assignments. I didn't have that and was less affected by it than they were so when the missions came my way, I took them. I wanted to protect them, just like you try to protect me. That's what you do for people you care about."

He nodded his understanding but was gazing down at their linked fingers, contemplatively, "So why not stop after we started…seeing…each other?"

"Because your family is more observant than you often give them credit for…if I had stopped those missions right when we started spending time together again, it would have been obvious why. And because you never expressed any aversion to that part of my job, just got annoyed when I needed down time to ease back into being home. I always just thought you were frustrated that I took so long to readjust, not that you were hurt by my job…" understanding finally passed between them as their eyes met and it was as though a huge weight had been lifted off both of their shoulders. The impending confrontation still settled at the back of Neji's mind but the feelings of jealous betrayal that had been slowly consuming him for so long were suddenly doused and the two of them were back on the same page.

Tenten lifted their hands and rose on her knees to place her right one over Neji's thighs and seat herself in his lap. Guiding his hands to settle on her waist, she then gently pressed hers against the sides of his face. The pads of her thumbs rested just below the corners of his eyes and while there was no heat between them, there was something very intimate in the gesture. She felt his hands warm up, an indication that he was using his chakra control to sooth her muscles, and it brought a small smile to her face. He closed his eyes to focus on the feeling for a moment before she asked, "Are you okay with this?"

He opened his eyes questioningly. Tenten indicated toward her abdomen with her eyes and he smiled slightly, then leaned in to kiss her softly on the mouth, "Terrified, but very okay with it."

A cheeky little laugh escaped her, "Terrified? Big tough Neji Hyuuga is terrified?"

His lip quirked up in a smirk but he looked straight into her eyes with an intensity that always left her short of breath and whispered, "You've always scared me…"

"How so?"

"You're the only thing in my life I'm afraid to lose…"