Christmas Chaos

Chapter 12 : The Qipao

December 25th - 9:03 PM

Tenten stopped mid-stairs as she was walking down to join her raucous family opening Christmas gifts in the living room.

Did she expect to see her uncle A headlocking uncle Darui as a thanks for the new watch he got him? Yes.

Did she expect her cousins running around with gifts in their hands, making a mess with the discarded wrapping papers and scaring their two cats peacefully sleeping under the Christmas tree? Obviously.

Did she expect her mother shoving down carefully curated Christmas macarons down everyone's throats and having three sets of cameras filming the whole scene for her next youtube video 'Christmas morning routine with me'? Without a doubt.

But of all the things she expected to see on Christmas morning, as she walked down the stairs, Neji squeezed between her father and her brother on a small sofa in the same ugly Christmas sweater and Santa hat they wore… Well, that was definitely not one of them.

Never, in the whole billion years of existence of the universe and all the alternate realities that may exist would Tenten believe this scenario to be in the realm of possibilities.

And by Neji's furrowed brows that showed all the irritation behind his resignation, he probably didn't expect it either.

"Neji!" Lee exclaimed, taking Neji's hand in his, and the Hyuga's eyes twitching were all Tenten could take to keep her bubbling laughter in check. "You have to come back next Christmas! We could train together during the day and," His voice broke with emotions, his black eyes glistening with hope. "We could watch Christmas movies during the night!"

"LEE!" Her father erupted in a loud cry, a centimeter from Neji's ear who jumped from his seat and could barely turn around to look at Gai because he was just so crushed between the two. "WHAT A YOUTHFUL IDEA!"

"YOSH!" Lee pumped a fist in the air, enthusiastic by his own idea. "YOU SHOULD ALSO COME FOR THANKSGIVING!"

"AND HALLOWEEN!" Gai offered.

"WE COULD HAVE MATCHING COSTUMES." Lee added and Neji shivered.

Tenten couldn't hold her laughter any longer when witnessing the horrified look in Neji's eyes, but before saving him she had to take in that scene for a few more seconds.

She had never witnessed her father and brother be so enamored by a man she brought home and it pinched her heart. The way they had accepted him and absorbed him in their traditions, even if it's wearing a silly ugly Christmas sweater, meant a lot for the two sensitive and loving souls that Gai and Lee were. And even if they were welcoming with everyone, seldom have they bestowed such trust and intimacy with an outsider. So it was with a heavy heart that she was slowly starting to realize all the consequences their ruse would have on their families and if she was honest on herself too.

Did she envision all the consequences and risk of their plan failing? Absolutely. Did she take a second to imagine that their plan could work a bit too well for their own good? Not at all. If asked a week ago, Tenten wasn't even sure they'd even make it the second day in this chaos they weaved, yet here they were, fitting a bit too well, too right in each other's life.

Because as much as her father and Lee would be heartbroken next year around when Neji would not be here, she'd be equally missing Hanabi, Hiashi and Hizashi. She had become way too fond of the Hyugas in such a short time.

"Auntie Tenten! Look! Look!" Her five-years-old cousin Maya called out to her.

Her brown eyes shifted downwards towards her little cousin, just after catching Neji's glance when he realized she was there.

"Look at what uncle Neji brought me!" Maya was jumping from one foot to another. "Isn't she pretty?" She asked dreamily.

Tenten smiled fondly, squatting down to be eye level with her cousin. She took the doll in her hand, admiring her silky kimono.

"She is stunning." She smiled at the little girl. "Just like you." She winked and her cousin jumped in her arms.

Tenten laughed, her cousins did inherit the overly affectionate hugging style of the family.

"Lift me up Auntie Tenten, lift me up!" Her cousin demanded.

Tenten rolled her eyes playfully but pleasantly obliged, lifting the child and propping her on her hips.

"Look at you, you got stronger since last year didn't you?" She bopped her nose, grinning at her rosy cheeks of excitement and her eyes gleaming with excitement.

"Do you think we should rescue your uncle Neji?" Tenten whispered in secrecy and the girl strongly nodded her head.

"... then, we could go camping all three of us! Nothing but nature, silence and us! No distraction, no phone…"

No rescue, Neji thought of Lee's elaborate two-year-friendship plan he had just laid out in front of him.

Tenten chuckled, cutting in. "Mind if I borrow him?"

"MY YOUTHFUL DAUGHTER!" Gai almost wanted to sob. "Of course! Of course! Your blooming womanhood as a lotus needs to be watered by the undivided attention of a respectable gentleman such as Neji."

"Yosh Tenten!" Lee sprang from his seat. "Please also take good care of my new brother and best friend." He bowed ceremoniously at her.

"I will," She laughed, extending her hand towards Neji.

It was uncanny, really, too natural, too instinctive, how he took her hand and, once they started walking towards the kitchen, how he simply wrapped his hand around her shoulders.

"So what are you going to call your doll?" Tenten asked the girl in her arms, to shake off her fluster from the intimacy he was showing her.

He's just playing his role like you played yours. She tried to remind herself.

"Mmh," Maya put her little finger on her chin, reflecting on the question. "I don't know." She shrugged.

Tenten smiled maliciously. "May I suggest…" She trailed glancing at Neji. "Nejiko?"

Maya beamed and hugged her doll more tightly. "Yes, that's perfect!"

The brunette smiled triumphantly at the long-haired man who glared back in response.

"I want uncle Neji to carry me!" Her cousin whined, impeding Tenten from fully enjoying her moment.

"Here, let me." Neji smiled and the child extended her arms towards him.

"Oh my gosh, I just can't." Mikoto's cry could be heard from a couple meters away while she was sipping hot chocolate on the couch with her two sisters.

"They look like actual parents." Aunt Yara was sniffing in her kleenex. "Those damn allergies." She blamed her emotional state on pollen.

"Yeah, right." Suki rolled her eyes.

"But just look at them," Aunt Yara insisted, squishing her sister's face with both her hands, towards the couple.

"Bould you djust leth me go." Suki tried to protest with her mouth distorted under Yara's hold.

"You can keep her!" Aunt Yara called out to Neji and Tenten, winking at them. "I've already got too many of them, anyway!" She poked her eight-months pregnant belly.

Tenten turned so Neji couldn't see her mouth to her aunt: 'Stop that!'

"Mommy!" Maya exclained and suddenly, she forgot all about auntie Tenten and uncle Neji. "Look! Look!" She waved her doll at her mother.

Tenten and Neji exchanged an amused glance. He was about to say something when her mother appeared with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate with a hearty amount of chantilly and crushed peppermint candy.

"Here," Mikoto handed them the sweet drinks. She smiled even more sweetly at the man she already imagined her daughter walking down the aisle to. "I made the chantilly myself." She added proudly.

Obviously a man would want to marry her daughter right away if he knew her mother made her own chantilly and, without any doubt in Mikoto's heart, she made the best damn chantilly known to mankind.

Tenten stifled a laugh at her mother's dreamy expression and Neji's bashful face.

"I'll take this one," Tenten grabbed one of the two mugs. "Neji is more of a black coffee kind of guy."

"Or earl grey in the morning." He interjected.

"Or earl grey-" Tenten stopped in her tracks, throwing him a confused look. "You never drink tea in the morning," She gave him a suspicious look. "You only drink jasmine tea in the afternoon."

Neji blinked dumbly at this woman who knew a bit too much of his habits now. "I-" He cleared his throat. "True, I just go for earl grey if there is no coffee around."

Mikoto gasped, full of emotions. "Look at you two knowing each other like the back of your hands." She shook her head, unable to process all the warm and bubbly feelings she had.

"Mom," Tenten tried to bring her down from her paradise land. She sighed, knowing that wouldn't happen anytime soon. "Let's go get you some coffee." She said to Neji.

This time, it was her who took his hand so casually, so freely it felt like holding Neji's hand was her birthright.

Tenten sighed in relief at the empty kitchen that offered some respite from the cacophony her assembled family made in the living room.

She poured Neji a cup of coffee from the thermos her mother made earlier in the morning and handed the steaming mug to the impassive Hyuga.

"So…" She trailed, reading his sweater. "Fa la la la… llama?"

"It lights up too." He smirked, pressing the little button inside his sweater.

Tenten burst out laughing. "Why, you're glowing Nejiko."

Neji rolled his eyes but smiled against his better judgement. "I just couldn't say no to your father or your brother. They're so…"

"Insistent?" Tenten supplied, suddenly embarrassed by her family and worried of what Neji would say. Kankuro and Deidara would always complain about her father and her brother who found them too overwhelming and "lame", per Deidara's words.

So that's why Tenten looked up in shock when Neji said instead : "Endearing."

He seemed uncomfortable by the word that had just escaped his mouth. "I mean," He further explained. "They're so full of joy and a child-like innocence, it's not everyday you see that. I guess if an ugly Christmas sweater is what it takes to keep it that way, it's a small price to pay."

Tenten could have kissed him right then and there, her heart bursting at the seams. Few people understood how precious her father and brother were and seeing Neji recognizing it too, after so little time, felt like a sign from fate.

She cleared her throat to calm her racing heart.

"Thank you," She muttered, her eyes twinkling and dancing with a slow forming happiness.

Neji cupped her cheek, alarmed by his sudden movement. Since when did his body react before his brain did?

"You had an eyelash on your cheek," He lied and swiftly took his hand away.

Tenten Maito simply could not look at him this way, the way one looks at the love of their life and imagine he wouldn't just want to kiss her senselessly and imagine himself spending the rest of his days with her.

He quickly looked away before the uncertain emotions fighting their way up could be evident in his eyes.

But Tenten was stubbornly looking anywhere but at him.

"The toys," She cleared her throat. "They're so beautifully crafted. I haven't seen my cousins smile like that for toys that weren't electronics in a very long time."

Neji smiled at her. "When you told me you had this many young cousins, I called Haepo's toy store's owners. It's an old fabricant and his son who are old friends of the family. They agreed to bring a selection to the manor, so really I didn't do much"

"Everyone in Haepo seems to be old friends of the Hyuga." She gave him a rueful smile.

His smiling eyes seemed to read her a bit too easily. "If I didn't know you so well, Maito, I'd say you're already missing Haepo?"

"Maybe I am," She challenged him back, almost hoping he'd tell her she should come back.

Neji's eyes widened ever so slightly, encompassing her hazelnut ones, foolishly, hopelessly wishing she'd ask him to come back next year. And worst of all, that stupid picture of Tenten in their living room decorating their Christmas tree with them just wouldn't leave his mind. Worse now that he has seen her act with her little cousins the image morphed with her decorating the tree and kids awfully looking like a mix of them running around. And no matter how hard he tried to shake off that daydream, all it took was her eyes to find his again and he'd spiral right back in that feverish dream of a lifetime of Christmases spent together.

"My grandfather used to take us their store when we were little." Neji said out of the blue, anything to keep his mind from wandering too far in its delusions. "The first time we went there, he told Hanabi, Hinata and me to choose as many toys as we wanted. So obviously, as kids we got over excited and kept bringing toys upon toys at the cashier. Then as he finished paying for all of them, once they were put in the car and we drove back home; he sat us in the living room and handed us wrapping papers. All of the toys we had just brought were meant for the children of Konoha's orphanage. We rarely went to Konoha when we were kids and Haepo didn't have an orphanage. Haepo being so tight knit, this concept of institutionalised help was never part of our reality. After the war, those that became orphans were often taken care of by their family or even an old couple who had lost their only child to the war."

Neji's gaze was lost, his eyebrows furrowed. "My grandfather, he often said what haunted him most from the war wasn't the death, or the stench, or the feeling of never being safe; it was the parentless children he'd see lining up the streets of burned down villages he passed by with his troops. For the rest of his life he had dedicated himself to helping those children. All of his personal savings he bequeathed it to children organisations."

"And you continued on his legacy?" Tenten put a loving hand on his arm and he looked up at her warm gaze.

"How do you know?"

She chuckled, pointing to the magazine her aunts and mother had shown her yesterday, that was still perched over the microwave.

Neji groaned instantly. "That was all…"

"Your uncle idea so you could increase your chances to find a wife?" She smirked.

"You know a bit too much of my family now." Neji smirked back. "We'll have to find ways to keep you silent."

"Teach me how to snowboard properly down Haepo mountain, and consider my mouth closed for eternity." She offered, still not able to shake the foreboding sense that Christmas would now always have to be spent in some way at Haepo.

The Hyuga heir couldn't help but laugh at that. "I wouldn't let you out on a snowboard with anyone else but me, Tenten. You'd be too dangerous to others... and yourself."

Her eyes quickly darted back to his. The sweet possessivity in his words, did she imagine it?

"Well, again, thank you for bringing the kids gifts." She smiled at Neji, changing the subject. "You didn't have to."

Neji looked almost offended. "You don't just show up to your fiancé's house on Christmas empty-handed."

Tenten couldn't help but laugh. "Fiancé?"

Neji smirked. "Well, since your mother outed us anyway, might as well go with it."

She laughed again. "Maybe next year you could pretend to marry me to get Aunt Mei off your back." She joked.

"Then we could pretend to be married and have kids?" He played her game.

She grinned. "Obviously, that's the next logical step." She nodded assuredly. "Then you'll have to pretend to be my devoted worshipping husband while I give birth."

"And you'll have to pretend to raise our five kids with me." His smirk deepened.

"Then we'll have to pretend we'll be heartbroken when they go to college and leave us alone." Tenten added.

"And we'll pretend we're going on a six month trip around the world once we're retired?" Neji proposed.

"We'll probably end up pretending we're still mad for each other well into our old years." Tenten laughed at the ridiculousness of this play-pretend imagined future.

But Neji was not kidding all that much when he added: "To pretending growing old with you, Maito." He extended his hand.

She looked at him a bit bewildered but put her hand in his. "Deal?" Her voice held a hint of amusement at the word that had sealed their fates a week ago and lead to this Christmas chaos.

"Deal." He repeated, his eyes dying in hers.

They both jumped, startled, at uncle Yamato hidden in the shadows of the farthest seat of the kitchen table.

"Now, that… that," He said, his voice wrought with emotions. "Is just too adorable." He blew his nose again.

"Uncle!" Tenten admonished, still startled that she hadn't noticed her uncle before. She was sure he had been some super spy in another life or some super discreet ninja, or maybe even both, because uncle Yamato had this uncanny ability to hide in the shadows and be unnoticeable at times.

Or maybe he was just good at being silent unlike the rest of her loud-mouthed family.

"I'm sorry," He wiped a tiny tear. "But I didn't want to spoil this most adorable moment."

Yamato put a hand on Neji's shoulder. "Bring it in, Neji." He pulled him into a tight hug and for fuck's sake Neji has been more hugged in this family than in his entire life and this needed to stop.

Like right now.

"What a beautiful way to ask for someone's hand." Yamato wiped another tear.

"No, no, no, no!" Tenten rushed to say, waving her hands frenetically, scared he would just barge in the living room and scream she had just been proposed to. This would take years to explain to her mother who already had a way too vivid imagination for her own good - and Tenten's own good.

"It was not a proposal." Neji added calmly.

"Oh? It was not?" Yamato grinned, clearly disbelieving them.

"No!" Tenten insisted.

"Not yet." Yamato looked at the two before starting to walk away, then turned back, winking at his flustered niece. "Not yet, Little Tenten."

Tenten emitted a frustrated sound. "I swear my family will be the death of us." She sighed, exasperated.

"Not before my uncle is." Neji grumbled while texting back in his family group chat. "Turns out he found a way to get in contact with your mother and she's been supplying him with videos of us." He gave his phone to Tenten. "Among the videos, our kiss under the mistletoe." He gave her a pointed look. "My uncle will never let me leave this down. He'll sooner forget the Tayuya-gate incident than this."

Tenten groaned. "But how did he-?"

Neji frowned. "We already covered that my uncle is rich, overbearing and loves us too much for our own good… haven't we?"

Tenten covered her face with her hands.

Neji felt compelled to put his hands over her shoulders to reassure her. "Don't worry, we'll figure out a way out of this mess. We just need to get through these holidays, get you your revenge over your ex and then we'll do some damage control."

"Everything will be fine, right?" She asked, fearfully hopeful.

"Yes, I'm sure." He reassured her.

December 25th - 9:36 AM

"Ok, not so sure." Neji looked bewildered at a crying Lee in the arms of his stoic boyfriend, Gaara.

No, crying was not the correct verb. The black-haired man was dissolving in rivers of tears.

Just after assuring his fake girlfriend that they would indeed make it out alive of these nonsense holidays, they had been ushered out by Tenten's Meemaw who came rushing in with uncle A and uncle B in tail, each holding industrial calibre cauldrons in their hands.

"Move out of my working space kiddos," The small old lady put her hands on her hips, holding a ladle in one hand, her apron already tied around her purple velvety skirt and white scallop-collar blouse.

Neji had never met anyone as sweet looking as this grandma, smiling warmly at him and at the same time as menacing when she started kicking the air in front of her, ushering them out, wiggling the ladder threateningly at them.

As soon as they were out, the Suna siblings and their parents had joined the Maitos in the living room.

"Christmas brunch together is a tradition since my father came back from the war with Temari's father." Tenten explained to a nodding Neji.

He thought it so interesting how his clan prided himself on their large family, but they all felt like strangers to him. While Tenten's may be smaller in size, compared to all the relatives he knew to exist, the fact that the Maitos were so numerous, yet so tight-knitted made Neji feel he came from a small family. Because to him, only his father, his uncle and his cousins could compare. And for too many times to count, Neji felt himself wishing these holidays could last longer, no matter how much they ran him down.

"I feel bad for them." Tenten mused aloud, stirring him from his contemplations. She nodded towards Kankuro who seemed to be in a poor state.

To their relief, Neji and Tenten successfully held in all their facial expressions in check when they exchanged a look at the awkward way Kankuro sulked in a corner, drinking eggnog as if it was some hard liquor, looking intently at Tenten's aunt who made a poor job at ignoring him, her eyes darting back and forth a bit too many times.

But the fake couple was a bit less successful at not looking both horrified and amused at Lee jumping at his boyfriend, crying incomprehensible things while sobbing on Gaara's shirt whose bored expression quickly became worried.

"A B-B-BROTHER." Lee kept sobbing on his boyfriend's chest. "F-F-F-FOR CHRISTMAS."

Gaara glared at Tenten. "I thought we agreed to keep him away from videos of lost puppies finding their forever home?"

"It's furrever." Lee corrected, looking up, eyes filled with tears, at his boyfriend who was gently tapping his head like one would with a crying child.

"Of course, my love." Gaara said sweetly to his man, before shooting a death glare at the two of them. "See what you did?" He redirected his suddenly hardened voice to the brunette.

Tenten smirked, unimpressed by the redhead's intimidation tactics that stopped working on her more than a decade ago.

"It's not a dog video." She explained, crossing her arms over her chest, thoroughly enjoying this impossible yet most heartwarming dynamic that Gaara and Lee were. "Lee is moved because he found his eternal rival." She clapped Neji's shoulder to emphasise her point.

That did nothing to lessen Gaara's dark gaze towards Neji. "Well, eternal rival or not, I'm his true soulmate, so get in line Dollarstore Rapunzel."

Neji almost choked on air. He had never been that disrespected. And for what? Gaara being jealous he would try to steal… Lee?

Tenten would always be so awed, yet exasperated, by the fierce way Gaara would protect Lee and would love him so ferociously that he was persuaded everyone wanted a piece of his boyfriend. Love really made one blind.

Not that Tenten thought her brother was a not great catch, but come on.

"Bitch."

Tenten's heart almost leapt from her chest as she turned around grinning wildly at her best friend. "Mari!" She screamed and lunged to hug her.

"We need to talk." Temari dragged her out, winking at Neji. "Stealing your fiancé for five minutes!" She smiled at the bashful man.

"Hey."

Neji was surprised to see none other than Shikamaru Nara, the most efficient and sleepy anesthesiologist one could find at the Gen and one of Neji's best friends in the past years.

"When did you come back from your humanitarian mission?" Neji's eyes widened at the man he had performed hundreds of surgeries with and had countless drinks afterwards with. "And what are you doing here?"

"I've been back for a couple of weeks. And just like you," A lazy smirk played on Shikamaru's lips. "Getting engaged."

December 25th - 9:48 AM

"You're what!?" Tenten shouted in her room and Temari had to clamp her hand over her friend's mouth to shut her up.

"Shhh!" Temari warned. "Only very few people know." She grinned excitedly. "He's officially going to propose at tomorrow's ball. My dad told him to." She smirked.

Tenten's eyes widened in recognition.

"Oh my God. Temari!" Tenten gasped before her face split into a sly grin. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

Temari only gave a smirk for an answer before going to sit on her friend's childhood bed.

"Oh. My. God." Tenten's eyes widened in disbelief. "ARE YOU BLUSHING?"

Tenten could not believe her eyes when her friend, - her friend who wore leather jackets every day to highschool and used to punch bullies square in the jaw- brought her decorative fringy blue bed pillow over her face to hide her erupting grin and her tinted cheeks.

But that couldn't compare to Tenten's shock when Temari, Temari who used to headbang at every known rock concert she dragged Tenten to and headlocked her little brothers wrestling them to the ground, squealed, falling back in her bed, kicking her legs in the air.

Sure, Tenten knew her friend was just a big softie on the inside, but she could safely say the sandy blonde always kept it inside.

"Whoa," Tenten breathed out, jumping on the other side of the bed to lie next to her. "You must really like the guy."

Temari turned her head on the pillow they shared so she could look straight into her best friend's brown eyes a couple inches away.

"I think I love him." She whispered, so serious Tenten had goosebumps all over her forearms.

"Chills, literal chills." Tenten whispered back, so excited, so happy, yet so terrified that one of her closest friends was going to get married. She took her friend's hand. "I'm so happy for you 'Mari, he's one hell of a lucky guy." She smiled at her friend.

Obviously, Tenten was used to the obligatory engagement and baby posts she saw daily on her social media feeds. But, she always found comfort in knowing all her friends were on the same path as hers. Lengthy studies like medical school often offset other areas of your life and delayed other life projects like getting married and having a family of your own. Even though most of the time Tenten paid no mind to it, she couldn't help that feeling of dread, her biological clock ticking like a time bomb.

But if someone had always reassured her during those times, it was Temari. They both went through premed and medical school together. Leaving her friend behind was probably the hardest part of Tenten's decision to do her emergency residency in Konoha, while her friend started her surgery residency in Suna.

Fortunately, both women had kept close contact during their last five years of medical learning. Though, since Temari had graduated and became a trauma surgeon, they had had less time to talk and catch up. Mostly because Temari decided to follow her father's footsteps and serve Suna's military for the two years following her graduation and had been sent on countless missions in different parts of the world.

"So, how did you two meet?" Tenten finally broke the silence.

December 25th - 10:02 AM

"So you two met while you went on your humanitarian mission?" Neji summarised Shikamaru's story.

The lazy anesthesiologist nodded. "Yeah, we collaborated a lot with the military there. She worked for Suna's army up until two weeks ago."

"Worked?" Neji sipped his coffee, sitting next to the spiky-haired man, on the Maitos' empty veranda. He could get used to calm mornings by the beach, mostly when the breeze was so gentle and refreshing and when the only sounds to disturb the peace were the nearby seagulls calling to the sea.

"Yeah," Shikamaru dragged on his cigarette, a nasty habit Neji had always disapproved of. He smiled lazily at the Hyuga. "She found a posting in Konoha, she wants to move there."

"Damn," Neji breathed. "So that's it then? You're getting married. Choji and Ino know?" Neji raised a brow knowing how close he was with the two, mostly his best friend Choji.

Shikamaru groaned, telling him all he needed to know. "Choji knows." He took another drag of his cigarette. "But I'm still bracing myself to tell Ino."

Neji smirked. "Temari being Tenten's best friend, Ino will use that to befriend your wife quicker than you'll get to say 'troublesome'."

The anesthesiologist chuckled a little. "Yes, she'll probably know more about Temari in one hour than I will in our first year of marriage."

The men exchanged an amused smile.

"So you and Tenten, huh?" Shikamaru let the cigarette rest on his bottom lip. "Kiba got into your head with that stupid plan of his, didn't he?"

It was Neji's turn to laugh. "Can't believe it all started with Inuzuka and his dysfunctioning brain."

"So the engagement was fake, I take it?" His friend raised a questioning brow.

December 25th - 10:30

"Anyway it was all fake. He only had the ring on him because we had needed it to fool his scheming aunt." Tenten sighed, exhausted from the turns of events.

"Damn, you really went all in for this dude." Temari whistled after Tenten finished telling her everything from Neji proposing her the deal a week ago, to yesterday's mistletoe's kiss. Well, everything except their first night in Haepo. That would need a bit of alcohol involved before Tenten could tell that to Temari.

They were still in Tenten's bed, the brunette's head resting on her friend's chests after they had spent the last hour catching up on everything they had missed in each other's life.

Tenten was going through the pictures on her phone. She had shown all the photos she had of the Hyugas, their house, Haepo and the people she met there to Temari who had been patient to indulge her until the blonde exclaimed 'Tenten, I love you I swear, but if you show me one more snow-capped mountain, it's your kneecaps that'll need ice'.

"Yeah, I guess." Tenten finally answered.

"You guess?" Temari asked back, astounded. "Tennie, you've been talking about this guy and his family as if you had known them your whole life."

Tenten was about to protest but Temari beat her to it. "No, actually, you talk about him like when you were fourteen and you were crushing on that weird dude my cousin was friends with." Temari paused. "What was his name again? Hidan?"

The brunette burst out laughing. "Oh my, I haven't thought about him in years. I used to have such a crush on that guy."

"Well," Temari played with her friend's undone buns. "He was legitimately hot. I'll grant you that. Can't believe how many times you came to sleepover because Sasori invited him to hangout and the other losers he was friends with." Temari rolled her eyes.

"'Mari!" Tenten chastised. "Konan, Yahiko and Nagato were cool."

"Yes," Temari admitted. "She is having her second kid with Yahiko, can you believe it?"

"Ugh," Tenten made a barfing motion. "Highschool sweethearts having their life so figured out." She shuddered. "Life is too unfair. But good for them, they deserve it after all they've been through."

"Of all my cousin's shitty friends you had to settle with the most pompous ass of their group." Temari grumbled.

"Oh my God." Tenten exclaimed, exasperated. "Will you ever let me live this down?"

"If by this you mean going out with that douchebag Deidara for five years against my better judgement, then no. Never. I will hold it over your head for the rest of your life. I'll even tell your five kids," Temari gave her a teasing grin, referencing her outburst at the Hyugas. "That you'll have with Rapunzel downstairs that their mother was a stupid b-"

"Temari!" Tenten turned her head sharply around.

"What?" The blonde challenged back. "Ugh," She gagged. "He was so pretentious. His art is so basic. I couldn't stand the asshole even with all the love I bore for you. I love you and all, and when you cry, I cry and all that shit. But I'm sorry to say, when you broke up with him, it was the happiest day of my fucking life. He was a pain in my freaking ass and he was holding you down. So happy you've stopped pinning on that blond blob of secondhand-embarrassment-half-assed art. Even if that means you're moving on with Dr Geisha over there."

"Temari!" Tenten shrieked again. "First, I was never pinning on Deidara. Second, leave Neji's hair out of this. Anyway, we're not going out together for real. I'm not moving on with him. I moved on years ago, period."

Temari raised a brow. "Oh please, I'm sure if I stole your phone I'd still see Deidara in your Facebook and Instagram search history. You know what?"

"Hey!" Tenten protested when her friend snatched her phone out of her hands.

"Here you go," Temari tsked in displeasure. "Stalked on Instagram, check. Stalked on Facebook, check… Oh Tenten," She threw her friend a disapproving glare. "You followed that wanker on Twitter and Linkedin too? What is wrong with you?"

Tenten groaned. "Ok, fine, I may have not moved on as much as I thought I had. But it's not like that anymore."

"It's not?" Temari asked, clearly not believing her.

"No, not anymore." Tenten whispered, then groaned. "I'm so confused."

"Damn, you got it that bad for My Little Pony down the stairs?" Temari continued to play affectionately with her friend's hair.

Tenten shrugged. "I mean…"

December 25th - 10:39AM

"I mean, it has been going really, really well." Neji admitted after Shikamaru asked him how his ruse with Tenten fanned out. "A bit too well, even."

"Women, fucking troublesome I swear." Shikamaru drawled, taking a last drag from his cigarette. "And I found the most troublesome of them, I swear. Yet look at me, I'm making her my wife." He chuckled, squishing the discarded cigarette under his feet. "I'm even going to have to make a public engagement speech at that ball her family is organizing tomorrow. My folks are flying out of Konoha as we speak."

"But what can you do," The lazy man shrugged, his half-closed eyes fixed on the horizon of the pastel sea gently swaying under soft grey clouds. "When you love someone, you love someone. May it be that annoying trauma surgeon busting your ass in the middle of a nowhere-to-be-found desert… or that annoying emergency doctor just a floor below you that you've tried to hate for the past seven years."

Shikamaru winked at his friend with a teasing smirk. Neji blinked, before allowing himself a faint side-smile.

"I guess that some things just can't be avoided." The long haired man took the last sip of his coffee.

December 25th - 11:00AM

Temari burst out laughing.

"Oh. My. God." Tenten's mouth was agape while she stared at herself in the mirror. "What the fuck happened."

"You got some serious ass makeover since you were a young twenty-something, that's what happened." Temari grinned.

Tenten turned around in her favourite golden Qipao she used to wear on special occasions. She had planned to wear it for Deidara's wedding and decided to try it out to get Temari's feedback, but now she could clearly see it would not cut it because it did not fit at all.

"I look like some video games' fanservice hypersexualised character." Tenten whispered, horrified while staring at herself in her floor length mirror.

"You're every Hollywood's dreams of stereotyped asian women come true." Temari agreed and Tenten groaned in agony.

What was she going to wear to Deidara's wedding now? She had planned on wearing Fu's dress for the Sand Ball tomorrow and her qipao for the wedding.

She passed her hands over the silky material that threatened to burst at the seems over her hips. Damn those squats and deadly lifts truly did their job, because right now she looked like she was promoting her onlyfans account. The cheongsam dress that was the epitoma of grace, elegance and effortless charm was now obviously too little for her, squeezing every curve she had, accentuating them in almost an obscene way. Her breasts squeezed together through the keyhole of her dress like Rose and Jack should have squeezed on that floating door.

There was enough space for both of them!!

She sighed again, utterly frustrated by this mishap. She hadn't had an occasion to wear her cheongsam dress since she had left for Konoha. Normally she always wore it for the Chinese New Year, but since she'd been working in Konoha, her shifts always got in the way of the celebrations and she lost the habit to wear one yearly.

"Well, if you wanted to impress him, that'll certainly do the trick." Temari smirked at her, biting her lip to keep from further laughing. "Here," She fetched a little box from her back. "Maybe this will cheer you up."

The blonde looked apprehensively at her best friend as she slowly took the red rectangular box.

"Will you be my maid of honour?" Tenten read aloud the little card on top. "Oh, 'Mari, of course-"

"Open it," Temari whispered, suddenly stressed.

Tenten did, reading the second paper inside. "And will you be my… kid's godmother?" Her face rapidly went from confused to over excited to on-the-verge of crying in the space of the few seconds it took her to realise that under the paper lay a positive pregnancy test.

When Tenten emitted a scream that would have made Ino proud and jumped on her best friend sitting on her bed, breaking said bed in the process and causing a sound that almost shook the house; she did not expect that half her family would stop what they were doing downstairs to run up to her room.

"Shit, shit, shit." Tenten mumbled, hearing people running up the stairs. She helped Temari up to her feet, the pregnancy test still in her hand. "Here," She handed the stick to her friend. "Hide it in my suitcase."

"Tenten? TENTEN?" Neji knocked loudly against the door and Tenten was surprised to hear he was the first one making it to her room.

"Hurry!" Tenten whispered to the blonde who quickly took the test and hid it under the mountains of chocolate candies her friend brought with her in her suitcase.

Before Tenten could answer her door, Neji had kicked it open and wow. Just wow. That shouldn't have, but that turned her on.

She was a simple woman. Kick the door. Be Neji looking at her with a worried, possessive expression. And hubba, hubba.

"Tenten, are you alright?" Neji quickly put his hands on her shoulders while Shikamaru rushed to his future wife. Tenten was still too stunned to speak by their sudden appearances. "We heard a loud yell and then a sound that resembled a gunshot…"

Neji suddenly stopped when he saw the state of the wooden bed that was cracked at the lower half. Then, just as Tenten's uncles made it to her room, Neji finally took in Tenten in her outfit that left nothing, nothing to the imagination.

"Little Tenten?" Uncle A came rushing in.

"Something terrible must have happened-" Darui came second, clad in his usual cynicism.

"It's probably just something that fell." Yamato reasoned.

"There was a loud sound, so we came rushing around. Fool, ya fool!" Uncle Bee was just behind his brothers.

"IS SHE OK?" Mikoto yelled from downstairs.

"Oh wow." Neji breathed out, oblivious of his surroundings, unable to think straight, let alone advert his gaze. He felt stuck stammering incomprehensible things, his eyes darting back and forth from her face to her…

"Troublesome." Shikamaru sighed when the threatening aura of uncle A came towering over Neji.

But the young man was too absorbed by the woman he was still holding. He had just noticed her hair was down. Something he hadn't seen since that first night in Haepo when he had gripped them to better thrust-

"Now would be a good time to start looking down, pretty boy." Uncle A glowered in Neji's ear who compiled immediately. "Good," He put his hand around the surgeon's neck, guiding him out of his niece's room like a kitten by the scruff.

"HEY MIKOTO." Darui yelled at his sister downstairs.

"YES?" She yelled back.

"DO YOU STILL HAVE THAT HAND PRESSED LEMON JUICE?" He asked, walking back downstairs with his brothers and Neji.

"Yes, why?" Mikoto answered once they reached the living room.

"For my eyes." Darui did not stop under his sister's questioning stare and went straight to the kitchen. "Cause they are just some things an uncle shouldn't see." He muttered.

"Leave some for me." Yamato's eyes seemed haunted.

"Maybe find your daughter some clothes that fit." A glared at his sister.

"What?" Mikoto asked back confused.

"She used to be Little Tenten with pimples, now she is grown and dresses like she needs a pimp. Fool, ya fool." Uncle B said discouraged.

A turned his glare towards his brother. "That doesn't even rhyme."

"Killer Bee is too traumatised for a rhyme, his little girl has grown out of her time. Fool... ya fool." Bee shook his head in defeat.

"What the hell are you all talking about?" Suki rolled her eyes. "Let's go see her." She got up from the couch, decided.

Tenten was still trying to get out of that stupid dress with the help of Temari when her aunts and mother came storming in her room.

"Oh," Yara simply said. "I see."

"Well, well, well." Suki smiled slyly. "Little Tenten is not so little anymore."

"Thank God, you father and brother were too busy helping Meemaw with her curry." Mikoto smiled nervously. "Let's go shopping for another dress tomorrow morning." She gulped, fighting back the tears coming up. "My baby is all grown up now." She sobbed.

"Oh for Christmas' sake." Suki groaned.

A/N : Every time I'm like this will be a short chapter, I'll do that fast, I have all this idea popping in my head like uncontrollable pop corns. I had to split this chapter in two because otherwise it was too eventful for one chapter. I can't wait for you to read the next, if you like chapter 10's ending, you'll probably like chapter 13.

I am so, so grateful for all the wonderful reviews you have been sending my way. Not only is this encouraging me to continue this story (that I'll hopefully one day finish because damn this got out of hand, but I decided to follow my muse no matter what on this one) but also to got through the last stressful weeks.

Thank you everyone, from the bottom of my heart and I wish you all the best!