Christmas Chaos
Chapter 5 : The Inundation
December 20th - 2:14 PM
It could not have been a minute sooner that the Hyugas' black sedan car pulled in front of them and Neji's driver got out to greet them and transfer their luggages.
Really, the past ten minutes since her almost-death have been so tense that Tenten had forgotten the cold cutting her soul. Usually, Tenten didn't mind her tension with Neji because it was propelled with equivalent bilateral hate. But this time, it was tense because she was now sitting on the knowledge she owed Neji Hyuga her life.
Neji.
Hyuga.
Out of all people.
"Young master," The driver called and Tenten immediately turned towards Neji's blushing face with a triumphant smirk.
"Please," Neji smiled shyly at the driver he had known since he was a kid. "You know I hate to be called that, Kyo."
Kyo laughed at the grown man he used to sit on his knees when he was younger, letting him pretend to drive the car. "I know, I know, Neji." The driver grinned. "It just reminds me of good memories of when you were still a child running around naked in the gardens with Lady Hinata."
Tenten snorted, biting her lip to impede going into full blown laughter.
"Shut up." He muttered, knowing full well where her mind was taking her.
Neji opened the door, gesturing for her to get inside the car.
"Oh, no. I could never." She feigned politeness. "You first, young master."
"Tenten." He growled, and she got in, muffling her chuckles behind his scarf.
The ride was pleasant thanks to Kyo's warm personality that equally matched Tenten's. She had chosen to sit in front and the driver was excitedly telling her history and geography facts about the little town, Haepo, he came from, right down the mountain where Hyuga Manor was built, overlooking the quaint village.
"So when the first Hyuga decided to found Haepo…"
"Wait, what?" Tenten interrupted the driver to turn around and throw a disbelieving look at Neji. "Your family owned a whole town?"
Neji who, in the backseat, had been busy looking aimlessly at the winter wonderland rolling in front of them, redirected his attention back to his guest. He opened his mouth to downplay this statement, but the ever so proud Kyo beat him to it :
"Oh, they still own it! The Fire Nation being a parliamentary monarchy, old titles before the democratic constitution are still in effect. So technically, once Neji is married he becomes the Lord of Haepo by his birthright, being the firstborn male of the Hyuga House."
If Neji could, he would have opened the door and thrown himself out of the car, down the snowy cliffs of Haepo Mountain. He hated whenever anyone brought up his ancestry
Tenten burst out laughing, throwing him a malicious look through the rearview mirror. "So you're really a young master, aren't you? Should I start calling you My Lord?"
She was having too much fun at his expense, and behind his slowly boiling anger, there was a sort of pleasant warmth. Maybe it was because the way her eyes squinted when they laughed made her all the more beautiful, or maybe it was because she was so unphased, and on the contrary was mocking him, on his legacy. Whatever it was, Neji's heart melted a little bit. But just a tiny little bit.
He smirked back. "I think it's very fitting, Tenten, for you to keep calling me young master." Anger looked better on Tenten than on anyone else's face. "I even think from now on, you should call me sir. What do you think?"
Decidedly teasing her was a hobby he couldn't live without anymore.
"Sir?" Tenten snorted. "Don't let it get to your head, Hyuga."
Neji's smirk deepened, his eyes gleaming with a newfound malice. "Well, you're the one that brought it on the table."
She huffed. "You're so full of yourself, Neji." She said to no one in particular, her eyes roaming over the snowy top of pine trees lying like a lush green and white carpet at their feet as they ascended the roads up the mountain, nearing the Hyuga Manor.
Kyo eyed with great amusement the back and forth that ensued between the two. He hadn't seen the young master so lively in quite some time now.
"I like her," He told the boy he had known since he was but an infant. They were taking the luggages out of the trunk while Tenten was busy on a phone call with her mother, reassuring her she had arrived in perfect health.
"Don't get attached," Neji grunted back and immediately pressed his lips together, caught off guard.
If they wanted to pretend they were dating they'd have to do a much better job than this.
The old man simply laughed. "I don't know what it is that you young people do nowadays, casual dating and what not, but you're not known to be a fool, Neji." He clapped the young man's back. "So don't be one." He closed the trunk. "At least, she's already much more pleasant than that redhead you brought home two years ago."
"What redhead?" Tenten appeared out of nowhere by Neji's side.
The young Hyuga rolled his eyes. "Will anyone in this damned family ever let me live down the Tayuya incident?"
"Nope." The driver said categorically, grabbing the two luggages, pushing away Neji's hands out of the way who tried to hold them for the elder.
"I'm old, Neji. But I can still lift two luggages and kick your bottom if you try to do it for me." Kyo gave him a warning glance. "In any case, Hiashi-sama has made a point of adding 'Remind Neji of his failure to bring an acceptable girlfriend and remind him of Tayuya' on the Family Holidays Agenda."
Tenten laughed heartily until she noticed two deadly serious pairs of eyes looking at her back. "It's not a joke?"
"No." Kyo answered adamantly and Neji sighed, his eyes dark.
"My uncle loves three things." Neji's lips pressed into a thin line before continuing. "His family, having everything perfectly organized and emotionally guilt-tripping me into getting married and having a brood of Hyuga heirs."
Tenten jumped in the air when the booming voice of Hiashi Hyuga came from the doorstep : "Truer words have never been spoken, dear nephew."
"Neji!" The man rushed to trap his nephew in a bones-crushing hug, clapping his shoulders and squeezing them, grinning at the young dazed heir. "It's so good to have you back in your home and lands." Hiashi's inquisitive gaze slowly traveled down to a terrified Tenten who tried her best to regain her natural easy-going, bubbly personality, that was currently-unavailable-please-leave-a-message-after-the-bip.
"And you," The Hyuga patriarch's excited grin transformed into sly, cunning smirk. "You must be Tenten, Neji's new attempt at not disappointing me."
Neji rolled his eyes, ready to retort something back, but his blasée eyes widened ever so slightly to Hiashi's attentive glance, and his cheeks turned the faintest shade of pink when he felt the warm and soft hands of Tenten Maito slid into his own.
"I'll try to not be too much of a disappointment, then." She replied cheekily, her sweet smile carefully painted on her lips, to the man of the house who had been scrutinizing her.
Hiashi's appraising eyes seemed to be scanning her soul and Tenten would lie if she said Hiashi Hyuga wasn't the most intimidating person she had ever met, and that said a lot, knowing she confronts Neji Hyuga on an almost daily basis. She could definitely see where he got his attitude from.
"I'll guess I'll be the judge of that, Ms Maito." He smiled at her, thoroughly entertained.
He was going to have so much fun these holidays.
Hiashi Hyuga just had a prestance about himself, and when his transcending eyes set on you, it was akin to the final judgment. Suddenly, Tenten felt exposed, small, inadequate. Like he could see all the lies she had ever told. He also had that kind of charisma that made you want to be liked by him, to follow him, to be part of his entourage. So it was with shaking hands that she put hers in Neji's.
And as much as she would claim and fight that she only did it under the pretext of acting as Neji's girlfriend, per their convened deal; the truth is, she had done it without thinking much. She had felt intimidated by his uncle and she had quickly reached out for the first comforting thing she could grab at the moment.
Behind her honeyed-grin, Tenten was mortified. Since when has Neji been a source of comfort to her? And how had she so instinctively reached out to him, so comfortable in this simple form of intimacy. Had this trip, this catastrophe of a plan really, already started to change the nature of her relationship with the man she despised the most?
No.
It was ridiculous. Tenten was sleep-deprived, cold, stressed and overthinking things.
She leveled up her gaze to meet Hiashi's stare daringly and his eyebrows raised ever so slightly at the challenge he saw in her determined hazel eyes.
"Then, I'll guess we'll see if you're a good judge of character or not, Hiashi-san." She gave him her best side mocking smile, sculpted with all the confidence years of growing up with her ever so encouraging step father Gai Maito and her step-brother Lee had given her. "Because you'll like me, that I have no doubt. But you can only hope it'll be likewise, because your nephew doesn't have much going for himself if his family isn't delightful enough to compensate for his shortcomings."
Neji immediately tensed up like a bar of steel.
Was this goddamn woman crazy? No, does he have to call Dr Yamanaka and request an immediate psych evaluation for that ticking bomb he had the unfortunate lack of wit to invite to meet his family?
The whole plan was based on Tenten being the perfect, obedient, non-problematic girlfriend so his uncle would not have to add another agenda point on his failings in the romance department. Instead, here she barged in, meeting his uncle and in less than a minute, forgoing all sense of decorum and saying he had shortcomings as a (fake) boyfriend?
What was wrong with her? What in "pretending to be a loving girlfriend" had her brains failed to understand?
Not only had she challenged his uncle, but she had called him Hiashi-san. No one called him anything but Hiashi-sama, not even family members, except his very close friends and family one could count on his hands. She would have fucking known, if she had read the preparatory document he sent her last night.
But no. She wanted to improvise. Neji could have thrown her over Haepo Moutain, sipping hot oolong tea while hearing her endless cry while she fell. Yes, definitely still in the realm of the possibilities he was not yet ready to cross out.
Fine, he'd give her a parachute. He was not in the attempted murders side of darkness. Yet.
All during his anxious internal turmoil, Neji's eyes were glued on the barely agape mouth of his uncle and his shocked expression, well, as shocked as Hiashi could show. Which wasn't much to be honest, only Neji could see the subtle changes in the older man's features.
Neji hadn't realized he wasn't breathing until his uncle burst into a loud uncommon laugh, letting his face rest into an impressed smirk.
"Shortcomings, eh?" He raised an appreciative brow before giving a knowing glance to his nephew who could have paid Kyo all his inheritance to roll him over with the car. "You'll have to tell me all about it during tea this afternoon." He gave her a pointed look. "But first, let's get you settled and warmed."
Hiashi turned towards the mansion before throwing over his shoulders : "And just call me Hiashi."
Tenten would have laughed at Neji's stupefied face if she was not petrified by the audacity she had just shown in front of fearsome Hiashi Hyuga. Meanwhile Neji couldn't wrap his mind around what he had just heard.
Call me Hiashi!? He repeated in his head. What was his uncle playing at?
Tenten breathed out in relief when Hiashi entered the house.
"Are you insane?" Neji hissed at her, tightened his hold on her hand only to realize they were still holding hands.
They let go immediately and glared at each other.
"What?" She spat back. "It worked."
She knew she took a risk, but from all her years fighting with Neji, she had learned one thing. A man like Hiashi Hyuga would have eaten her up and spit her back out in the back of his non-bothering mind if she had shown an ounce of weakness.
Sure, she had tip-toed on the edge of arrogance and impoliteness, but something told her that Hiashi Hyuga could forgive arrogant people, but not weak-minded ones. Playing the meek, overly polite girlfriend was just not going to cut it with him.
Neji gave her an assessing glare after she had explained her side of things.
Well, she was not wrong, and it suddenly dawned on him. Maybe, that's why all his other girlfriends had failed at capturing his uncle's approval. For all their beauty and decorum, they had next to no fight in them when it came to deflecting the playful scorn of Hiashi Hyuga. Well, maybe except Tayuya, but that woman just took things way too far all the time. And his uncle was nothing but dangerous and dismissive when bored or unimpressed.
Maybe, Tenten knew more about his uncle than he thought she would. Maybe, she knew more about him than he ever thought possible and that left him feeling oddly strange, a mixture of warm affection and anxious reflection over someone being so close to breaching his walls. Someone that was none other than his arch nemesis.
Maybe, Tenten Maito was more than what he thought she was. And alarmingly, he found himself thinking - wanting?- that she could be more than his mere enemy or annoying acquaintance. Maybe.
"Are you coming or did you want to become Neji-The-Snowman this Christmas?" She raised a brow, turning around on the steps leading to the main door.
Or not.
In fact scratch all he had just thought. She was just as infuriating as she has always been and her little number with his uncle was not going to change that.
December 20th - 3:07 PM
Tenten knew how incredibly predictable it was to say the Hyuga's Manor was immense. But she had to.
It was not a mansion, it was a castle. A castle niched in a dominating mountain in this landscape that seemed painted by Michelangelo himself.
Everything, every little room in their home was carefully decorated with such taste she felt too underdressed to be in her pajamas in her own guest room. The ceilings had intricate paintings of Fire Nation's lands, with a romantic expression to them. Ino would have gagged in envy at the light academia aesthetic that oozed out of every millimeter cube of the Hyuga Manor.
She had already changed into something comfortable and was unpacking her clothes for the few days they would spend here when she heard a knock on her door.
"Yes?" She called out.
"Tea is served." Neji leaned against her door frame in his black trousers and cream knitted sweater.
And she realized she had never seen him outside of his scrubs. She had driven to another state, in the middle of nowhere really, with a man she barely knew outside of their spats in the very limited environment of the hospital they both worked at.
Maybe Neji was not far off when he called her insane earlier.
"Coming," She mumbled under her breath not wanting to face his casual leaning pose.
Of course he had to be handsome being just this casual, as if he was shooting a Vogue cover or a Calvin Klein add.
And goddammit, an image of Neji in boxers really didn't have to grace her already wild and amped up imagination but here it was.
She fetched her fuzzy slippers and shuffled towards the door.
"Where are you going?" He lazily looked at her outfit.
"Downstairs for tea?" Did she misheard him?
"No, not dressed like this, you're not." He gave her an appalled look.
Tenten looked at her white pajamas pants and oversized powder blue hoodie. She thought herself very presentable. Ok, maybe the fuzzy bunny slippers were a bit too much for Hyuga's standards.
"We always eat in casual to formal attire." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "You would have known that if-"
"I read the freaking essay. I know. I know." She was tired of this repeated speech.
"So what can I wear?" She asked him and that surprised him. He had prepared himself for an argument on her part.
"Anything semi-casual." He shrugged.
"Black leggings and a t-shirt?" She suggested.
"No."
Was she kidding?
"Jeans and a sweater?"
Neji shook his head again until he came to the horrifying realization that it was probably all Tenten had packed with her.
She smiled nervously at him. "Too bad, cause these are the only things I brought."
She jumped when he slapped his forehead. "Are you kidding me? And the stores are closed for the week in Haepo." He threw her a desperate look. "And what were you thinking of wearing for the engagement tomorrow?"
"Oh!" She grinned, having the answer to that. "I got a really cute black dress for that."
"What." Neji gritted.
"What?"
"We always wear a Kimono for formal Hyuga events, such as engagements." He sighed, resigned. "And black for an engagement is rumoured to cause bad luck."
"And it was in the document I did not read?" She gave him a guilty half-smile, feeling suddenly sorry for her lack of preparation. After all, she did strike a deal with him and she was miserably failing to complete her end of it.
He nodded, exhausted by this day that seemed to never end in complications.
He was oddly calm about this, Tenten thought, looking at his calculating eyes, trying to find a solution out of this.
"Just wear the black dress for tea and we'll find you something else for the next few days. I'm sure Hanabi can lend you a kimono or something."
Tenten nodded hesitantly. "O-okay."
He simply nodded back and pushed himself off her doorframe.
"And sorry." She bit her lip and he turned around stunned, unsure of what he had just heard.
His earnest eyes locked with her sorry ones. She did feel bad, but she realized too late that she had instinctively pronounced the word that they had both so carefully avoided saying in their years of feud.
Neji was slightly dazed by the turn of events, because truth be told he felt as bad as she did. After all, she was bearing the crushing weight of all his family's uptight expectations during the few days of vacation a year she had and all this for his sake. So, of course, he felt bad that she was now not feeling comfortable wearing what she wanted and acting like she usually would.
He shook his head. "Don't be. I should have confirmed important information with you." He scratched the back of his head. He couldn't let Tenten be the only bigger person of them two, but damn did this hurt his pride. "And I'm sorry for how uptight my family is."
And she doesn't know why she said it, why she felt the need to add "Oh, no. Everyone has been so nice so far."
Maybe it was because she had actually appreciated all the people she had talked to up until now. From Kyo, to his uncle and the maids that helped her out. Even his little cousin Hanabi who she stumbled upon in the hallway was just too sweet.
"And your cousin Hanabi is really adorable."
Neji gave her an odd look. "Hanabi? Adorable?" He frowned even more. His little cousin was a brat to her most loved ones, and he wouldn't say out loud the other b-word to qualify her when she interacted with people outside her close circle, but you get the picture.
Tenten nodded, not understanding where his skepticism came from. "Yeah," She explained. "I saw her in the hallway earlier and noticed she wore a BTS necklace." She chuckled. "We gushed a bit about Jimin even though my favourite one is Rap Monster."
Neji shook his head harder and Tenten couldn't help but notice how his silky inky strands were flying around his perfectly chiseled jaw.
Angry sex.
"Anyway, I get why she'd think Jimin is cute, but there is just something about Rap Monster's voice that-"
"Tenten," Neji cut her, annoyed. "You're not making any sense."
Since when was his cousin pleasant? And over what? A guy named Jimin? And for the love of Neji's mind blowing memory, he couldn't remember a Jimin. Was he an employee? A friend? A family member?
Then Tenten slowly came to the horrifying realization that…
"You don't know BTS?" She murmured, shocked. Faced with his blank expression, Tenten gasped and brought a hand to her mouth. "No." She said firmly. "No, no, no. Neji!" She shouted in a scolding tone. "This is a strong no from me."
"What the hell are you talking about Tenten?" His irritation came back ten fold, and thank God, because the weird awkward soft glances they exchanged during their clumsy apologies were not welcomed to make his heart flutter the way they did.
"I am only talking," Tenten said adamantly. "About the arguably most impactful kpop boys group of the last decade." She brought her hands into fists during her passionate declaration.
"Oh, Tenten." He rolled his eyes. "For fuck's sake, grow up."
He was walking down the hallway and was startled to realize she was following him, scream-hissing facts about why BTW was iconic and he just had to have listened to at least one of their songs, he just didn't know it.
"Tenten, stop following me," He said, almost scared, at the strutting little demon tailing his heels.
"But, Neji. This is unacceptable." She looked alarmingly at him. "We need to educate you."
"Educate him on what?"
Both the doctors turned around startled by the sudden arrival of Hyuga's Enterprise CEO, Hiashi Hyuga.
In response to Tenten's shocked face, Hiashi explained : "I came to get the two of you because tea was getting cold and you," He pointed to Tenten's mortified expression. "Owe me a whole different kind of tea on my nephew, missy."
Tenten chuckled nervously. Oh, yeah, she had forgotten.
"But instead I hear you say something in his education is lacking." Hiashi raised a brow, all playfulness suddenly gone. "And having had the job to raise him, I have, in my most humble opinion, done an outstanding job. Therefore, I'm very curious about how I failed to educate my nephew per your standards."
Tenten crossed her arms over her chest, not at all phased by the mild glare coming from the older man, much to Hiashi's surprise.
"Your nephew," Tenten continued, pointing an accusatory finger at the man she was supposed to pretend-date. "Doesn't know BTS."
Hiashi gasped in all his years of practiced gay-indignation, raising a hand over his heart. "Neji," He whispered, in utter disappointment. "You don't know who BTS is?"
Neji rolled his eyes before the cold hand of his uncle clasped around his wrist and dragged him to the living room where fresh tea awaited them. Tenten was closely following, adding her own comments to Hiashi's full blown speech, shuffling in her bunny slippers.
December 20th - 3:45
"And that, Neji," Tenten threw him a last glare. "Is BTS." She concluded under the claps of his uncle and cousin, Hanabi.
Of all the things Neji had feared out of this masquerade, Tenten uniting with his uncle and cousin to give him a last-minute, half an hour long presentation on a kpop group was not one of them.
But it should have been.
Had he expected his uncle grilling Tenten with a thousand questions concerning their relationship? Yes.
Had he expected his uncle to grill him with a thousand questions concerning a boys band? Hell, no.
Yet, here he was after having carefully learned the names of each singer and dancer with pictures presented on the living-room giant screen and having had to repeat them carefully under the scornful eyes of Tenten and Hiashi, and at this point Neji didn't know who was more scary.
After what seemed like hours of them playing their most celebrated music videos and singing along to some of their best hits, Neji would definitely say this had to be the worst thing Tenten had done to him.
Neji sighed, rolling his eyes, giving a pleading look to his father who arrived a few minutes before the end.
'Save me.' He mouthed to his dad.
His father laughed at the scene and introduced himself, which thank all the heavens was enough to move the topic on him and Tenten instead of what he now knew to be the best kpop group of all humanity, well according to Hanabi.
"So, how did you two meet?" Hizashi asked, smiling gently at the couple.
Tenten suddenly looked up from her tea cup having totally forgotten under what pretense she was here for, in the first place. She also took some time to look at the marvelous room in which she had been seated for the last half-hour. The large hearth with comforting burning logs and their sweet crackles, on which white quilted velvety Christmas socks hanged from golden ornaments, just over the fire. The biggest Christmas tree she had ever seen with white and golden decorations sparkling against the numerous string lights on the tree and hanging from pretty much every nook of the room.
And most importantly, the floor to ceiling bay windows that gave a breathtaking view of the mountains and village surrounding the Hyuga ancestral home. Cozied up inside, with the blazing fire warming up her bones, Tenten could now understand why winter was Hinata's favourite season; seeing all the fluffy snowflakes dancing down the sky against the picturesque mountainside of Haepo, its twinkling small town at the foot of its hills and the glistening iced river snaking up to the other side of the valley.
"Tenten?" Hizashi called her out of her musings.
"Oh, I'm sorry." She smiled bashfully. "I was busy admiring your home and the view. It's just splendid."
She looked down at her cup of tea and realized with horror that in the hurry of teaching Neji, she had come downstairs still in her pajamas and fluffy slippers. Well, at least she matched the white and gold aesthetic of the room.
"Oh, shit!" She exclaimed, clapping instantly with a hand over her mouth. "Oh, I'm so sorry." She apologized.
"What for, Tenten?" Hiashi smirked at her. "The swear word or the fuzzy bunnies?"
She laughed nervously. "Both?"
Hiashi waved her off. "Do not fret, my dear."
My dear? Now Neji was eying Hiashi oddly. Since when had he warmed up so much to Tenten?
"I'm thinking maybe we should all change into our loungewear. We'd probably be more comfortable" He shrugged and Neji exchanged a look with Hanabi. Since when did Hiashi Hyuga mention wearing loungewear for tea?
Tenten relaxed against Neji's arm and…
Neji's arm!?
She threw a quick look at how she had not realized how close she had gotten to him in her fidgeting stress. Now she was pressed on his side, his arm on the backrest of the couch they were sitting on, his hand dangerously close to her shoulder. But then she remembered the plan she kept forgetting and voluntarily took his opposite hand that was resting between his manspread legs.
"So?" Hizashi asked again.
She squeezed his hand and Neji had to consciously stop himself from being startled by the sudden show of affection, even though he knew it to be all an act.
"Oh!" Tenten laughed nervously again. "Where to begin!" She stalled trying to remember the few pointers Neji gave her. "Oh!" She freed her hand to tap his chest with the back of her hand. "And why don't you tell it, Honeybear?"
It took Tenten all her willpower to not burst out laughing. Obviously, she knew such a cheesy moniker like this one would annoy Neji.
Neji's eyes squinted with his fake smile.
She wants to play? Then let's play. He thought.
"Oh, but you tell it so well, Honeybun." He wrapped his arm around her, bringing her closer to him, in a manner that seemed almost sweet and gentle which made Hanabi smile.
Tenten's laugh was the tiniest bit too high pitched to be believed. "He. Is. So. Shy." She tapped his knee a bit more forcefully than she had to with each of her words, leaving the three Hyugas seated in front of them in single armchairs to follow each of her taps with a concerned look.
"No, I really think you should." He gritted back through his painful grin.
You wanted to improvise? Then, improvise. If he has to go down, at least he'll get some fun out of it.
"Well," Tenten wriggled her hands, overly conscious of the proximity she shared with the man that made her the most horny, ANGRY! She meant angry.
Angry. Angry. Angry. She repeated mentally, looking back at the three pairs of eyes waiting for her reply.
"Well," She started again and proceeded to tell them the truth about their first meeting and how they got into a fight as well as their on-going cold war the following years. Along her tale, Neji intervened every two minutes to give his side of things. They got so engrossed in the retelling of their rivalry each wanting to give their own version of facts that they forgot why they were telling it in the first place.
"No, I remember clearly you were acting pissed off."
"That is because everyone was saying I had a little-"
He stopped himself abruptly.
Dang it, he almost talked about his penis in front of his family.
By this time, Hiashi was too emotionally involved in their story. "Little what?" He urged them to continue.
Now, Tenten was blushing because the events of that fateful night were still engraved in her memory. And the fact that Neji's arm was still strongly securing her next to him, with his hand on his waist, did nothing to alleviate her fluster.
Neji coughed. "Well, there was this rumor about the size of… Well."
It did not take more for Hiashi Hyuga to spring from his armchair in indignation.
"Well, that is simply preposterous," He sputtered, offended. "Hyuga men have always been very much endowed and-"
"OH. MY. GOD. DAD!" Hanabi shrieked.
Hizashi chuckled, putting a calming hand on his brother and urging him to sit back down. Which he did, but not without a scowl.
"Excuse us, Tenten." Hizashi continued with a soft voice. "My twin got carried away a little bit." He threw him a reproachful glance. "Hyuga men are very proud, which I'm sure you must have noticed." He let his glance wander over his son. "Since Neji resembles his uncle very much."
Tenten nodded vigorously and before she could add on the Hyuga pride she had witnessed in Neji, Hiashi spoke again:
"So what did you do?" He gave his nephew an expectant stare.
"The situation was rectified and I believe," His eyes traveled down for a split second over the twin-buns still locked in his arms. "That the person with the misinformation now stands corrected."
"Good." Hiashi nodded, satisfied, yet still aware of the side-glance his nephew gave his guest.
"So, Tenten," Hanabi started with her sing-song voice and Neji was already grabbing the cushion he might need to throw at his little minx of a cousin. "How long have you and Neji known each other?"
Tenten shrugged. "About seven years."
"Oh," Here it came, Hanabi's sly grin. "You must know him pretty well then…" She looked over at Neji before returning her attention to the brunette still comfortably leaning on her cousin, not that the brown-eyed woman had noticed how comfortable she had gotten over the last minute. "So what's his favourite colour?"
"Uh…" Tenten helplessly looked at Neji. This damn playbook she should have read would haunt her for the rest of her days. "Red?" She finally said and from the look in his eyes, she knew it was probably not that.
"Oh, okay." Hanabi feigned ignorance of her mishap. "What about his favourite food?"
"Cho-chocolate?"
Keep digging, Tenten. Keep digging. She thought when she sensed Neji crisp right beside her.
"His astrological sign?" Hanabi offered it as a last chance of redemption.
The brunette looked at the man by her side. He is such an asshole he can only be an…
"Aries?" She attempted.
Hanabi laughed. "He's actually a cancer."
Tenten turned swiftly to eye Neji disbelievingly. "You're a water sign?" She exclaimed. "Would have never guessed with the way you act." She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.
Then quickly changed the tone of her voice for the sake of pretending. "I meant," She said sweetly. "He's so…passionate for a water sign."
Hanabi frowned. "Passionate?" She asked, confused. "Neji?"
Now Tenten was speaking from the bottom of her heart. "You should see when he gets mad." She snorted and stifled the moan of pain she almost let out when he subtly pinched her arm.
Hanabi's father must have had enough because he decided to intervene.
"Now, now, Tenten" Hiashi grinned and Hizashi groaned in response. "I have a few questions for you. You have to answer fast and without thinking, alright?"
Tenten smiled, nodding eagerly. She loved a good challenge, mostly if it wasn't about her knowledge of Neji Hyuga.
"We'll start with easy questions." He began, his cunning smirk in place. "What's your name?"
"Tenten Maito." She replied in a split second.
"What do you do?"
"I am an emergency doctor." She said without thinking.
"What is your favourite colour."
"Blue!" She fired out quickly.
"Cats or dogs?"
"Cats!"
"Favourite movie?"
"Bend it like Beckam!"
"Oh, that movie is so good, I-" Hanabi acknowledged before being shushed by her father.
"Siblings?" He continued his fast-paced questionnaire.
"One!"
"Ever been married?"
"No!"
"Any children?"
"No!"
"Uncle…" Neji tried to intervene but his uncle ignored him.
"Sun sign."
"Pisces."
"Favourite food."
"Sesame dumpling."
The speed at which each question was posed and each was dizzying, to the point the next questions Hiashi asked, Tenten answered without thinking twice.
"Do you like my nephew?"
"Yes!"
Oh fuck.
"I mean no." Tenten wanted to correct her mistake and then realized it was the answer that would have been expected out of her as his girlfriend.
"No?" Hiashi raised an amused brow.
"I mean yes!" She double-corrected herself.
Hiashi smirked at the suddenly stuttering girl who had shown nothing but cutting decisiveness since he had met her.
"I-I mean." She stumbled on her words. "I mean I love Neji-bear." She squeezed his knee in a way that wanted itself affectionate, but she was so stressed she instead dug her nails in his flesh, not that he seemed to notice.
Neji was staring blankly ahead of him, her instinctive "Yes!" still ringing in his mind, not that he cared.
"Yes?" Neji repeated dumbly and she gave him a startled look.
"I mean…" She didn't know what to say as they just sat there staring at each other.
Oh Lord, she could feel her cheeks turn pink and she could swear his did too. Was it out of shame that so far their plan seemed to be failing?
Hizashi coughed again bringing their attention back to him. "Tell us Tenten, what do you like most about Neji?"
Great, just great. Now, the brunette should have probably warned Neji she was a bad liar. She was good at pretending when she could surf on a disguised truth. And now this question necessitated that she finds a quality in this asshole that ruined her mood on the daily by a single smirk of his.
"Mmh, he is…" She knew what she wanted to say, but she didn't want to say it out loud, because she knew the moment she would, he would know she truly meant it. And she wasn't ready to have this sort of amity with Hyuga just yet.
"He is…" Hiashi prompted her again.
"Well," She bit her lip. "He is a very devoted person." She finally spit out and she could feel his muscles tense against her torso. "He cares a lot about the people in his life. His family, his friends, his patients. And he always aims to do the best he can by them for which he holds himself and the people he works with to extremely high standards…" She didn't realize she was smiling fondly until she saw the three Hyuugas smiling back at her. "… Even if that sometimes means going down to the emergency department to yell at a poor overworked resident." She finished with a little tease, hoping this would shake off the way he had oddly been looking at her since she had started talking.
No such luck, he was still seriously staring at her with that serious expression of his, but she was surprised to see that for once it held no scorn or scowl. In fact, his face was pretty much unreadable, a mix of slight surprise and daze.
"And you, Neji?" Hizashi cut in again their tense staring.
"She's," He swallowed his saliva, his mouth feeling suddenly dry as his eyes stayed on hers. "She's this weird mix of always expecting the unexpected yet, also, this 'what you see is what you get'." He allowed a tiny side-smile. "I guess I like how she always keeps me on my toes, even if that makes her infuriating at times…"
Did he just say that?
"I guess," He coughed awkwardly. "I guess I admire how forthcoming and authentic she is at all times. Tenten remains the same and there's something… beautiful about her integrity and how easy-going she is no matter who she is with."
Neji held in his breath, Tenten's eyes slowly widening with every word he said about her. They didn't know how long they stayed like that, his arm around her, her hand still on his knee, lost in each other's gaze.
It was Hanabi who coughed and brought them out of their daze. Tenten quickly looked the other way, over the bay window, and Neji quenched his thirst with his leftover tea, suddenly finding the tree decorations very intriguing.
Tenten was lost in a haze of mixed feelings on this man she loved to hate. So lost in fact, that when Hiashi asked her his last question, she turned almost trance-like and answered :
"Five."
Wait, what.
Neji spit out the tea he had just sipped and turned his head violently towards the girl pretending to be his girlfriend who had just told his uncle she wanted five children.
Hizashi's eyebrows were raised, Hanabi's head was tilted and Hiashi's eyes gleamed only a bit brighter than his stretched-out grin.
Oh fuckety-fuck.
It was no secret that Tenten wanted many children, mostly because she loved the dynamic her mother had with her many siblings, but she had never thought she'd be sharing that with the Hyuga family or that it would come as if she had discussed it with Neji and was insinuating they would soon bring the Hyuuga brood of heirs Hiashi had dreamt of so much.
Yet, that's exactly what happened.
Tenten was about to rectify the situation until Hiashi got up, startling them all.
"Hinata and her friend are going to the Cookie Festival, we should go too!"
December 20th - 17:11
Tenten soon learned that when Hiashi wanted something he just needed to say "ha" and it was done.
So here they were at the Cookie Festival, looking for Hinata and Naruto. Well, Hiashi and Hizashi were. She was just eating Neji's buttered popcorn.
"Five children." Neji scoffed. "You've really outdone yourself, Maito." He shook his head in disbelief. "Now I'll have to talk my uncle down from cloud nine. This will probably take weeks."
"I was stressed!" Tenten tried to defend herself. "They were grilling me as if they were lawyers and I was on the stand."
Neji slapped his face with his hand that wasn't holding the popcorn. "They are lawyers, Tenten! Damn it, you should have-"
"Read the fucking document, I know." She groaned. "I swear I'll learn it by heart tonight."
Neji shook his head in astonishment. "You have to." He stressed. "They were nice to you, for whatever reason they had. They actually treated you kindly. My other girlfriends, they'd roast them until she was more done than the turkey and they'd feast on their crumbling sense of self."
Tenten looked horrified at Neji, waiting for him to say he was joking.
"Beats me, but I think they like you." He added instead.
"Damn," Tenten breathed out. "Fine, fine. Tomorrow I'll be ready. You'll see."
"You better be," Neji warned. "My extended family won't be that kind to you tomorrow, they're vultures. Mostly aunt Mei, she's been dying to have her son be Lord Hyuga instead of me."
"What? That title means something?" Tenten frowned. "Oh, true. Fire Nation's a parliamentary monarchy." She answered herself. "So like, you have a seat at the House of Lords, or something?"
Neji sighed. "Yeah. I majored in both pre-med and political sciences before entering medschool. It was arranged that I inherit the title and estate in Haepo, that Hanabi becomes the next CEO of Hyuga Enterprise once she has gained enough experience as a corporate lawyer and Hinata will be the main shareholder of our construction development."
"Damn," Tenten whistled. "That's some holy trinity y'all have going on. I'm supposed to inherit my mom's porcelain and jade tea cups set. That is if Lee doesn't break every piece of it with his karate practice inside the house first."
"Lee?" Neji frowned.
"My step-brother." She answered. "We really need to study each other tonight."
Neji nodded. "At least we agree on something."
"So what's so bad about your cousin inheriting the title in your stead?" Tenten asked, popping another handful of popcorn in her mouth. "It's not like you seem really attached to it."
"Well, I do hope one day to be able to influence public health related policies and this seat is an incredible opportunity." He explained. "But also, the next first-born male would be Aunt Mei's son, cousin Ko. And while he's nice and all, he's also the manager of a very influential hedge fund. We don't trust that there would be no conflict of interests in his political agenda and his business."
"I see." Tenten nodded. "So you have to get married or else the title goes to your cousin Ko?"
"Married with an heir." Neji sighed. "Before I'm thirty-three."
Tenten whistled again. "You're on a timeline then. Only three years to find someone foolish enough to spend the rest of their life with you and accept to be the incubator of your duplicatas. Good luck."
Neji glared at her.
"It was twenty-five before. My uncle changed the rule when I told him I was applying for medical school because he knew I would take longer to settle down with my studies occupying my mind. It caused an uproar in the family. Aunt Mei rallied almost half the family to her cause, but thankfully uncle won over twenty more people than Aunt Mei did."
"Damn," Tenten breathed out. "And I thought we had family drama when Lee gets drunk during Christmas parties."
Neji smirked at her. "You have no idea."
"And what about that branch vs main family thing Kyo talked about on the way over to your house?" She recalled.
"Oh," Neji looked in the distance. "Those are old customs. Nobody practices them anymore, it was used centuries ago to divide the family between the first-borns and the second-borns. We used to … keep it in the clan." He looked at her puzzled look. "You know, like, for weddings…"
"You had incest-like weddings?" Tenten deadpanned.
"First," Neji rushed to add. "It was centuries ago. Second, it was cultural. Stop judging."
"Wait, wait. That means," Tenten wanted to clarify. "That you would have been in the main branch as a first born and Hinata in the side one, and y'all would have been married?"
"Technically," Neji was ambivalent at feeding her this hypothetical information. "Technically, my dad being the second born, I would have been in the side branch and Hinata in the main and … yes… I guess we would have been betrothed or something of the likes."
Tenten blinked a few times before bursting into a loud laughter.
"Ok, Tenten, stop it." Neji looked around. "People are staring."
"Honestly," She said in-between light laughs. "I could see it."
"Stop it," He gritted.
"No for real, y'all could be kind of cute." She teased.
Neji rolled his eyes. "I should have kept my mouth shut." He started walking away from her, but she followed him, laughing at his expense.
"Why are you running away?" She whined. "I ship it!"
"Stop. Laughing. Tenten." He was glad that she was still trailing behind him, because then she wouldn't see the stubborn smile refusing to leave his lips. Her laugh was just too contagious.
"Neji and Hinata Hyuga, husband and wife." She continued, giggling, trying to catch up to him as he rejoiced in this impromptu game of him trying to get rid of her, but damn she was almost just as fast as him.
"Who would be husband and wife," Hizashi intervened, appearing from the stand they had just walk in front of.
"Hinata and Neji." Tenten answered, grinning. "He told me about your old Hyuga traditions."
Hizashi laughed, putting a hand on his son's shoulder. "Remember when you were little and you said you were going to marry Hinata?"
Tenten doubled over in laughter.
Neji rolled his eyes. "I was four years old, give me a break. I didn't even understand what marriage really meant."
"You used to run around calling her Hinata-sama and saying you were her sworn protector." His father added.
"Ok, now that's too much for me." Tenten was bent in two, cramping from laughter.
"See what you just did," The younger Hyuga pointed a finger towards her, giving an accusatory look at his father.
Hizashi simply shrugged and winked at his son before departing in the hopes of finding his brother before Hiashi found Hinata and got the chance to traumatize her friend, Naruto.
"Wow," Tenten wiped a tear. "I haven't laughed that much in a long time."
Neji glared at her again.
"Honestly, Neji, at this point," She shrugged. "When you glare at me it almost feels romantic."
"What-"
"Oh, look!" She pointed towards the bonfire, stuffing popcorn in her mouth with her other hand. "Hinata and Naruto are sharing a bench. Look how cute they are! I could scream."
"Please, don't." Neji threw her an annoyed look.
Tenten dipped her hand in his popcorn again. "It looks like they're having a serious conversation." She spied from afar, Neji just as invested in her observation. "They're so close they could kiss! Aw, I'm sorry Neji, but I think I ship Hinata more with Naruto than you. In another life maybe." She nudged him playfully with her elbow.
"You're a nuisance to my life, Maito."
She turned towards him and smiled, as if touched. "Aw, thank you, Hyuga. Likewise."
"And stop eating all of my pop corn." He ordered her, to which she just snatched the popcorn paper bag out of his hands.
"Now, it's mine." She gave him a cheeky grin.
"Whatever," He looked away. Last thing he needed was to find her cute when she should be strictly annoying.
"Oh look, your uncle found them." She noted.
"Ah, damn." Neji sighed. "Let's go before he ruins their moment."
"Oops, might be too late. Naruto looks like he is about ready to be buried." She remarked, amused. "And I'm surprised you actually want them to have their moment. Weren't you against their relationship from the start?"
Neji frowned, almost offended. "I have never said that."
"Really?" Tenten's eyebrows shot up.
Naruto, you have some explaining to do. She thought.
Neji snorted. "I know better than to meddle in the love lives of my sisters. Hinata is scarier than she looks, if you hadn't noticed."
Tenten laughed and he shared a chuckle or two. "Yeah, I know." The brunette agreed.
"Let's go," Neji urged, walking towards the reunited family.
"Wait, Neji!" Tenten ran after him, linking her arm with his. "Neji-bear, why don't you get me a teddy bear just like Hinata-chan?"
December 20th - 22:33
"An inundation?" Neji repeated skeptically.
It's not that he didn't believe his uncle. It's that he didn't believe him.
Hiashi nodded gravely, seemingly afflicted by this terrible news.
"The whole east wing is water-damaged because a pipe broke. So all guest rooms are currently unavailable." Hiashi explained in his most theatrical sorrowful expression.
Then, he turned towards Konohamaru, Naruto and Tenten. "You'll have no choice but to sleep with Hanabi, Neji and Hinata for the time being."
"You mean, Tenten will sleep with Hinata and Naruto will share my room?" Neji challenged the reasoning of his uncle who was pretty obvious in his scheming.
Hiashi shot his nephew a cold glare. "Is Naruto your guest or is he Hinata's?" He rhetorically asked the young heir archly.
Neji rolled his eyes. "Now that you know this was all pretending, why do I have to share a room with Tenten."
The Hyuga patriarch could have wrung his nephew's neck if he didn't love him so.
"Well, maybe use this opportunity to not so lamentably make a fiasco out of your half-assed attempted delusion." He raised a brow, daring Neji to talk back and when he saw the too-smart-for-his-own-good young man open up his mouth, Hiashi quickly pursued : "Or maybe you'd like to hand the Hyuga lordship yourself to Ko? Wrapped with a golden bow, right for Christmas?"
Neji's mouth closed instantly. Obviously he was in a precarious situation. If he looked still celibate without any prospect, Aunt Mei could argue that his window of opportunity sliming down made him a less viable choice. She could also use that as an argument to say his lack of commitment in finding a wife and producing an heir was a testament of how poorly his took his future lordship functions seriously. Ko already had two sons and was breathing down his neck to level up.
Hiashi smiled, knowing he had yet won another chess game against his nephew, even though said young man was irritably getting more and more difficult to beat with his mind games.
They grow up so fast. Hiashi was almost moved.
"In any case," The oldest man concluded. "Maids have already moved your stuff."
"Stuff that did not get inundated, by some miracle." Neji gave his uncle another disbelieving stare which granted him a dark glare.
"A Christmas Miracle, really." Hiashi gritted back to his smart-mouthed nephew.
December 21th - 0:02
Of all the ways Tenten thought she'd be spending her holidays, she had not expected she would be sharing a bed with Neji freaking Hyuga.
"I hope you know you're sleeping on the floor," She stated without leaving any room for discussion. "Cause I'm not going to sleep with you no matter how much your uncle has forced this one-bed trope on us."
Neji scoffed. "Trust me, I'm not happier about this than you are."
"Good."
"But I'm still sleeping in my bed." He walked to the bathroom. "It's a king bed, Tenten. We'll put pillows in the middle."
Tenten was about to protest but he closed the door claiming the first shower much to her discontentment.
"That bastard," She muttered as she started busying herself with unpacking, again.
December 21th - 0:02
"I can sleep on the floor, Hinata." Naruto offered. "I swear I don't mind."
"O-oh, n-no!" She blushed furiously, hoping he wouldn't misunderstood her intentions. "I wouldn't feel good knowing you're sleeping there, it gets really cold at night."
"Oh," The blond man blushed. Sleeping next to Hinata was his utmost wildest dream come true, but he wouldn't want to do anything that made her feel uncomfortable.
Finally they both settled down at the far opposite of Hinata's king bed. The tension was electrical. They could feel each other shift and the hyper awareness of each other's presence was just enough for them to both lose sleep over it.
"What was that?" Hinata got up swiftly when she heard a scream.
"It sounds like Tenten," Naruto offered.
"Oh." Hinata laid back down. "Do you... do you want to talk a bit?"
Naruto nodded eagerly before realizing she couldn't see him in the dark.
"Y-yes!" He finally exclaimed. "Talk to me about anything."
And not that Naruto could see it, but Hinata smiled, bringing the cover over her face. She just couldn't believe her luck.
December 21th - 0:09
Tenten reached for her toiletries bag after she was done settling, hoping to take a shower after the selfish Hyuga who stormed the bathroom before she could.
She shrieked when she opened the little bag, only to find a pink dildo on top of her toiletries.
"Ino," She muttered darkly, reading the post-it note.
In case you're too much of a chicken to angry-bang Hyuga. ~ Kisses, Ino.
"What, what happened?" Neji stormed out of his shower with only a towel around his waist.
Tenten immediately clutched her bag to her chest. "Nothing," She piped up, admonishing her weak high pitched voice for betraying her.
"Tenten," Neji approached slowly, hands on his hips, totally unaware he looked like a drenched greek god and Tenten had difficulty concentrating on anything other than the fact it should be illegal for someone to look so damn hot with wet hair, water drops rolling down his chest…
Angry sex
"Tenten!" Neji called out again and she glared at him. "I asked you why you screamed like that."
"Nothing." She lied like shit and he knew it.
He extended his hand. "Show me."
She shook her head firmly.
"Tenten," He growled, his patience already thin.
"Fine," She grunted back, in an act of defiance. "Here," She handed him the damned pink dildo. "Ino's idea of a joke."
She expected him to throw the dildo back at her, or tease her mercilessly but all he said was :
"Mmh," With an appreciative face. "You have ambitious tastes." He eyed the size of the silicon sex toy before handing it back.
Tenten wanted to scream, but she played it cool. The dildo was a joke they brought Sakura in their preclinical years because she was shocked in their urology classes when she saw her first real penis.
"Oh, my. It's much smaller than I thought it would be." She muttered. Both Ino and Tenten puffed.
"What size did you expect it to be, Sakura-forehead." Ino whispered while the teacher continued his lecture.
They had laughed when their pink-haired friend showed them with her fingers what she thought was a normal size.
"Oh my God, Sakura," Tenten hissed. "That's huge."
And at her birthday, both girls had brought their virgin friend this humongous toy as an inside joke.
Now this same toy was in the hand of Neji Hyuga, who was handing it back as if she had dropped a pen.
"That's it?" She raised a brow. "No humiliating joke? No snarky remark?"
He eyed her weirdly, waiting for her to take her toy back. "No, Tenten. I respect your sexualty." He gave her a look that seemed to say "what did you expect me to do?".
"Oh, thanks." She finally said, putting it back in her suitcase.
Out of sight, out of mind.
If only she could lock Neji Hyuga in it too.
Angry sex.
Enough. Tenten took her shower things and went straight to the bathroom. It's only after she had showered that she realized she had forgotten her change of clothes outside.
Fuck.
She tightened the towel against her chest and opened the door only to be met by Neji Hyuga, still only clad in his towel at the waist.
"I forgot my clothes in the bathroom," He looked away, irritated by his vulnerable state.
"And me outside." She said before attempting to get out, only to crash into his chest when he attempted to get in.
Then followed very clumsy attempts where they tried to side-step each other, only to end up crashing into each other multiple times.
"Dammit, Hyuga. Stop blocking the entrance." She spat.
"What about you taking a step back?" He snarled just as annoyed as she was.
She tightened her towel again, thanking the heavens her bosom was not as ambitious as Hinata's because this could have been much, much more awkward.
Then as she was about to let him pass, she slipped on a wet spot on the bathroom tiles.
The rest happened as if in slow motion. Her falling backwards, Neji's arm reaching out to catch her, her gripping his shoulder to avoid her fall, him wrapping his arm at her waist and her bringing her body close to him so they wouldn't be both pulled down by gravity.
Angry sex.
Tenten blamed all of this on Ino. She doesn't know how, but she was sure her blonde friend was to blame in some sort of way. She probably casted a spell or something.
Fuck, now was not the time for Neji to suddenly find Tenten Maito irresistible, when all they had were two towels separating them. So as soon as she regained her balance he let her go and took three steps back to let her go out before he went in.
And don't ask Tenten why, why she turned around and finally, from years of pent up tension blurted out :
"Angry sex."
Neji turned around, just as alarmed as she was by the two words she had just uttered.
"What?"
Well, there was no turning back.
"That's what Ino says we should have." She said, shifting from one foot to another.
"I'm listening." He took a step towards her.
"If you think about it," She took a step closer too. "It's just another form of arguing."
They were inches apart, he looked down into her eyes, his hands aching to run over her skin. If she was really offering what he thought against all hope she was suggesting, then there'd be no chance in hell he could resist.
"You're playing a dangerous game, Tenten." He whispered huskily a few centimeters above her lips. "What exactly is it that you want?"
"You, Neji." She replied without thinking, lust clouding her judgment. Neji's body was on fire the moment she let his name slip her lips.
"So, angry… sex?" He repeated.
She nodded, swallowing with difficulty. "Just pure, unadultered, tension-filled, sex. No tender touch, no cute words, no affection. Just sex."
Neji nodded and she breathed in with anxious anticipation.
"Whenever you're ready." He took her jaw in his hand.
"Now," She whispered back against his lips.
And damn him.
Damn him for kissing her the way he had, with a dizzying ardour, the feel of his lips, of his fingers, blazing fires wherever they traveled on her skin. Damn him for pressing her against him, so furiously, so possessively she forgot to breathe while she kissed him back just as fervently.
And damn him for ripping her towel off and running his tongue on every bit of her skin, sucking and biting. Damn him for lifting her and grinding both their needs so ferociously. For digging his fingers in the supple skin of her flesh and pressing her against the shower tiles.
"I already showered, Neji." She teased in between moans.
"You're still very filthy, Tenten." He teased back, biting the thin skin on her collarbone.
And the next of their feud was not done with words but with kissing, and lip-biting, and hip thrusts.
Damn Neji freaking Hyuga for knowing exactly how to make her quiver, how to fit so perfectly, exquisitely with her, in her. For playing her like an instrument he was a virtuose of, touching with troubling accuracy all the spots he needed to press so she'd melt in a symphony of needs, and desires, and begs; that left nothing to his imagination at how much she craved him, craved the release he granted her oh so many times.
And damn his stamina, for pursuing in his bed what they had in the bathroom, pressing her thighs wide apart and looking at her with those lust-filled eyes that left her in a bubbling mass of moans completely at his mercy.
"Show me how you like to be touched." He whispered against the skin he was kissing.
Damn his stupid considerate hot ass, and damn her fingers for betraying her.
And most of all, damn him for again showing he truly was a prodigy in all things that mattered.
Damn fucking Neji Hyuga and damn those pillows they ended not needing in the middle of that bed.
December 21th - 0:36
Hinata decided that she was probably dreaming, because she couldn't believe this was actually happened. Her laughing and talking in the middle of the night with the ever so charming Naruto-kun. He was in her bed, a few centimers away, slowly getting closer from one another, their faces towards each other. They were so close in fact, Hinata could discern the striking feature of his cerulean irises through the dark.
The vibes were pristine. Talking to him just came so naturally and everything was going great until they heard it. Or them.
"Damn," Naruto finally cut their awkward silence. "They really had to get it out of their system."
Hinata nodded nervously, wanting to disappear under her covers.
"Just too bad we had to be in the room next door when they finally decided to go at it." Naruto noted.
He looked at the mortified Hinata. "Do you want to listen to music?" He offered, getting up and fetching through his things.
"Show me how you like to be touched."
"Can you hurry," Hinata piped up in a hushed manner.
Naruto hurried back, laying his head on the pillow he had shared with Hinata while they were talking and plugged one of his earphone in her available ear.
"There," He whispered once the music started. "Much better."
And Lord knows how Naruto got the guts, maybe because next to the other two everything they did seemed so benign, but the blond man got bold enough to wrap an arm around her waist. He felt her tense up for a second and was about to take his arm back when she snuggled up closer to him, until her nose was nestled in the nook of his neck and he breathed out, relieve and content.
Sleeping with Hinata Hyuga in his arms. Who killed him and made him the happiest man of heaven?
December 21th - 1:09
"An inundation? Really?" Hizashi commented, while looking thoughtfully at his crossword, in the now empty living room, except for his brother.
Eight across. Five Letters. Housing contract.
"I don't know what you mean by that." Hiashi sipped nonchalantly his wine as he reviewed the contract Hanabi had drafted for one of their biggest clients.
"I mean the buckets of water our maids had to throw in the east wing for your mad plan." Hizashi precised, still not looking up from his crosswords, being so used by his brother's antics by now.
"Do you want grandkids by 2023 or not?"
Hizashi smirked, still trying to figure out the last missing word of his crosswords. "That looks like a political slogan. 'Hiashi Hyuga. Grandkids by 2023'."
"You better be voting for me." Hiashi warned.
Hizashi laughed before going back to their main topic of discussion. "They still have time."
"Fine, then do you want Aunt Mei and her son to lay claim to the House of Lords?" Hiashi raised a brow and his twin finally raised his eyes to meet his.
"Touché." The younger Hyuga admitted.
"Fine, do your thing. I won't interfere," Hizashi finally relinquished. "Shizune will arrive tomorrow, anyway. So I'll be quite busy." Hizashi smiled at the recollection of his perfect girlfriend.
"Eurk," Hiashi gagged. "You're so disgustingly in love, it's horrifying."
His twin grinned. "So are you, can't wait to meet the boyfriend." He winked.
Hiashi had nothing to say to that, which was a win in Hizashi's book.
"What could it be…?" Hizashi wondered out loud. "Nine down. Three letters. Survival of the species."
Hiashi grinned maniacally at the suspicious sound he thought he had just heard. "Sex."
"Oh, you're right!" Hiashi grinned, completing his crosswords.
Of course, I am. Hiashi smiled to himself. I'm always right. Fake inundations or not.
A/N: I'm so happy I was able to update on such a frequency. We'll soon be wrapping up the Hyuga side of this story and heading to Suna to finally meet the Maito and (spoiler) Tenten's childhood best friend Temari.
Gosh, I love gay Hiashi. He is my headcanon.
And I'm thinking of changing the rating, like I don't feel it's explicit, but I'm scared I'm tiptoeing the line? Any input?
Hope you enjoyed, reading you guys is always such a pleasure!