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Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Okay, well.
What exactly does one do, when they come home to find their house ransacked from top to bottom, and an ominous message lying on one's bed?
Freak out, is how it goes.
"Tenten, you need to calm down." Grandma's voice filters through the mouthpiece reassuringly, "I'm being driven over as we speak, so lock the doors and windows, and grab a saucepan in case someone other than your Grandpa Hiruzen, or I, walks into your house. Remember that trick I taught you when you turned ten?"
I nod, taking several deep breaths over and over again. "Hit them in the nose, and make it look like self-defence."
"Good girl," she replies, as I frantically click the lock on the front door, heave a massive arm-chair over to bolster my defences, and slam all the windows shut. Grandma's cursing on the other end of the line, yelling at what I assume are traffic lights, then speaks again just as I pick up my heaviest saucepan, "Have you finished, sweetheart?"
"Yeah," I sit in the middle of the room with a heavy frown. Someone's knocking on the front door. "Granny," my voice quietens down into a hoarse whisper, "Someone's here."
She curses. "We'll be at your front door in a few seconds. Just hang tight." The line goes dead. The knocking persists.
It's definitely not one of my friends; Temari has band rehearsal every Monday afternoon, Neji and Hinata already went home not long ago, and Sakura and Ino are in a joint Vegans' Society meeting today. At least, I think they are. Right now, I'd give anything for one of them to not be busy.
Someone's screeching, now. It's a terrible sound. Not quite human, and not quite animal either. I wince when something loud bangs against the door, thankful that I had the foresight to reinforce it with the chair. On second thought, maybe that chair can only last for so long. I rush around to throw more heavy objects at the entrance.
It doesn't take long before I realise that hey, how is my life even at this point? There's either an enormous bird-beast squawking at my door, or somebody is pulling a serious prank on me, but it's a bad one, because I don't find this situation funny in any way.
Everything suddenly quietens down.
Then, "Tenten?"
Salvation!
I make my way towards the door cautiously, standing up on the arm chair and taking a peek through the eyehole. Sure enough, it's my grandparents, looking oddly terrified. I push the chair aside, then cautiously crack the door open. Oh, Kami.
There's a disturbing amount of red on the ground in front of me, and it's splashed all over the door and the walls around it, in what looks like a horrible attempt at graffiti. Only, street art rarely ever says 'You will be mine' in a private domain. It's kind of counterproductive. Grandma and Grandpa Hiruzen shakily enter my apartment.
Her face is grim and resolute when we lock the door behind us. "You are moving back to the mansion. Start packing, now."
So.
What to do when you've just been mentally assaulted, then ordered to do something you've been protesting against for the better part of four months?
I nod, then hurry the hell out of there.
You rush away from the Royal Physician with a skip in your step and a pink-cheeked grin spread all over your face. Your husband will be glad to hear the news. The both of you have been trying to produce a viable heir for almost a year, now. You'd feared the worst, that you were infertile, and that all of your efforts are fruitless.
He is kind, that is undeniable, and passionate, brave, loyal and strong. Your husband has not stepped a toe out of line like those of the other court ladies, neither has he threatened to displace you for not producing children at the rapid pace of a rabbit. Still, even with all of his love, and with all of the love that is blossoming in your heart for him, you cannot help but feel relieved that there will be a child in your marriage.
The Royal Family will be more than pleased to receive this news.
You arrive at the doors of his chambers just as the guards announce your incoming presence. They open the doors before you fling yourself into the Prince's arms.
"My beloved," you giggle, squeezing his abdomen tight as he chuckles. The sound is low and sends shivers down your spine. "I come bearing divine news."
He finally manages to extract himself from your embrace and sits you down at his desk. "I have news for you too."
"Oh," you feel slightly put out, but that is remedied when he touches your betrothal necklace fondly and places a light kiss on your forehead, "You go first."
"I am leaving in two weeks." Time stops. Your heart ceases beating. What? "There is a war breaking out along our borders. As the shogun lord, and the Prince, I must join my men in their battle. Wife, please forgive me for abandoning you."
You don't respond, only stare listlessly at his face as it drops. Even though you have become accustomed to the idea that he is a warrior who leads the troops of Japan with an iron fist, his announcement is unexpected, and ill-timed. No, it is the worst time for him to go to war. His child needs a father.
"My love?" His gaze implores you respond. His voice is desperate, and croaky.
"I-" Should you tell him? Tell him to abandon his soldiers for his pregnant wife? He will be torn between defending the country, in its present state, and defending the future of his country, in his wife. No, it will be best to keep quiet. Your husband does not need more worries on his plate. "I am surprised, at the very least."
His shoulders sag down in relief when you finally reply. "It will only be for a few moons, maybe less. I do not expect this scuffle to last for very long."
Forcing a smile onto your face, you rise from your seat and join your husband at his own. You press a chaste kiss to his lips, careful not to break into any sobs. He tries to deepen it, but you pull back, an idea forming in your mind.
"How about we join the commoners for a day? It has been a while since we ventured out to the market place in disguise."
The love of your life responds with a nod, and a pleasant series of butterfly kisses on your neck.
Later, when the sun has reached its peak in the sky, the both of you emerge from the back doors of the Jade Palace and arrive at the local village. No one recognises you two, especially not when you are wearing worn, brown robes and have your hair styled in simple top-knots. Without the splendour and lavishness of Palatial accessories, no one ever looks twice at you and recognises your status and power. You revel in the anonymity, the feeling of freedom that grows in your heart with every step you take.
Your husband laughs when he catches sight of your growing, cheerful expression. He leans in close, and kisses your cheek, ignoring the scandalised looks of the noblemen around you.
"Where do you want to go first?"
"The chestnut vendor," you respond almost at once, then blush, "I am highly partial to roasted chestnuts, husband. They are ripe this season."
He obediently leads you to the stall, where he casually wraps his arms around your waist and yells out an order to the server. The man behind the counter gives them a cheeky grin, then gives you two a little extra for being so happy. You beam up at him tenderly, leaning into his embrace with a swelling feeling of love growing in your heart. This man is the one for you.
When the vendor requests payment for your meal, your husband releases you and pulls out his pouch. You grin at him again, then occupy your time by taking a look around the marketplace, deciding where to go next. The first sight that greets you makes your heart drop down to your feet.
It is him.
The man of your past, the one who fled with you, taught you how to hunt for yourself, indulged your every whim and fantasy. He is there, staring into your eyes like a hungry lion staring at its prey. You recall his parting words, his parting kiss, and the last words he'd spoken to you before you left to return home.
You are mine, and no one else's.
You remember slapping him away, claiming yourself as your own life. No one can hold you back, not without your permission. You remember his malicious laugh, his fiery gaze. He did not love you, only illusioned himself into it, and neither was he anything more to you than a man who gave you everything. You were both selfish.
Your husband calls out your name several times, before he turns to face the direction of your look of horror. But you know he sees nothing, because by the time he has fully swivelled around, the man is gone.
"What is wrong?" He brings you back down to earth with a brush of his hand against your cheek. "You look like you've seen a ghost. Come, let us buy some trinkets for our child."
You allow him to lead you away from the chestnut vendor. His words hit you like a tonne of cattle.
"What did you say?"
He meets your incredulity with a crinkle-eyed laugh. "The Royal Physician informed me of your news when I was delivering my message to the Emperor. Why did you not inform me earlier?" He wraps his arms around you again; your cheek presses against the hard planes of his chest miserably. "Was it because I was due to leave?"
You nod, several times, taking comfort in his warm, welcoming embrace. "I did not wish to burden you with this knowledge."
He sighs shakily, then kisses the top of your hair as he strokes your back. "My family is no burden to me, Tenten. And," he pulls away, smiling at his use of your childhood nickname, while holding your shoulders in his hands delicately, "I promise, in the name of Kami, that I will return to you in six months, whether I am embroiled in a war or not. Our child will have a father. Trust me."
Needless to say, the next morning is a terrible one.
Kurenai wakes the entire neighbourhood up by "accidentally" dropping all the of pots and pans in the kitchen. All over the floor. With even spaces in between them.
"Why does she even live here?" I throw a pillow over my head churlishly.
"Well, she is pregnant with your half-brother."
...
Wait.
"WHAT?"
Grandma Biwako chuckles from behind her sewing kit, and remains seated in the guest room's armchair with a superior grin on her face. "It was quite a shocking discovery, to say the least. And, very sad. Poor girl was bedridden for days after she found out."
"Oh," the room is silent, save for the minute sounds of a needle popping its way through clothing. "That's...I don't know what to say."
"Well, sorry, for starters, would be a good choice," she fixes me a stern glance, "It has been three months, and that baby belly is starting to show now more than ever. That you've been treating her like junk hasn't helped her either."
I must be the world's most unobservant person, because seriously - three months of pregnancy and it's just flown completely over my head. Kami, Tenten, get a grip. "I will," then I look at the digital clock on the bedside table: eight in the morning. The sheets are thrown off my bed in milliseconds before I gently push Grandma Biwako out of the room. "Soon! I will, soon! I'll be late for school if I don't get ready. Talk to you later!"
Most of my uniform spares are torn from yesterday's robbery, so I pull on the clothes from yesterday, still dirty from the summery dust that blew into it on my way home, and still sweaty and icky from all the panicking I did when someone was trying to break their way into the apartment again.
Now that, is an experience I don't want repeated. The police were all called in yesterday to investigate the crime scene, in and outside, and check on all the cameras in the hallway for any clues. They'd informed us over the phone that after I'd locked the door to the apartment, the footage mysteriously, creepily fizzled out, all greyscale and gravelly, then came back with the bloodied scene that Grandpa Hiruzen saw when he arrived with Grandma.
Not for the first time in twenty-four hours, there's a dreadful feeling of foreboding making its way up my spine and clawing at my back like a vicious, feral cat. Only, something worse than a cat. Cats I can handle. I'm a black belt. Potentially-homicidal strangers with a weird squawking complex, I cannot.
Then there's the question of where Sasuke was throughout that entire ordeal. He literally lives ten metres away, so it couldn't have been that difficult to hear the deafening screeching going on, and the door-banging. Then again, he might have been working at Ichiraku's, or at school. Or at that swinger's party. In any case, no one got hurt physically.
"Tenten, by all means, continue zoning out on the front step as we wait for you to board the car that will take you to the educational facility that opens the gateway to your future." Kurenai, noticeably pregnant, huffs at me impatiently.
"Right, sorry." She sends me a quick smiles and gets into the car. I race after her, backpack in one hand and toast in my mouth, and shut the door behind me. After a few minutes, I finish swallowing down the rest of the bread - jam. I love jam - and straighten out my hair. Kurenai passes over a brush and a hair tie and a sympathetic smile, which I accept shyly. "Thank you," a brief pause, "For everything. I," She looks back at me from the front passenger seat expectantly. "I'm sorry for being such an ass. I've never really given you a chance, with all the things that've been happening, and you're pregnant so now you're actually family. Well, not like you weren't before, but-"
She cuts me off with a light-hearted giggle and a fond smile. "I understand. Grief drives people up the wall; no sweat."
We beam at each other, which is new, and great, and thankfully things are starting to look up now. The driver swerves into the school's parking lot, gives out instructions for the both of us to punctually be in the car by three forty-five this afternoon or face the wrath of Grandpa Hiruzen, then drives away with a kind smile on his face. She waves me goodbye, then hobbles her way up the front steps and into the school.
Neji's already at my locker by the time I reach it; he gives my uniform an appraising glance, then takes in the lack of twin buns in my hair, and then scratches the back of his short, black hair, confused. "Did something happen?"
"You could say that," I respond lightly. Talking to the Hyugas again feels strange, and weird, but I'm not about to throw away friendly approaches from hot people, not when my life was flashing before my eyes approximately fourteen hours ago. "I've had a rough night."
"I can tell," he nods solemnly. Principal Tsunade's making her way down the hallway at that very moment, so I hastily brush my hair back into a bun and secure it with Kurenai's hairband. It snaps into place the moment Tsunade passes by. She pauses, then turns towards me with a scrutinising glare.
"Your violation of the dress code today is disturbing. But, your grandfather has informed me about your...circumstances. I'll let you off the hook today." She whips a hand-held machine out of a nowhere and presses seven million buttons before it prints out a white slip of paper. "Show this to your teachers when they interrogate you."
"Uh, thanks." She nods briskly, then walks away and effectively terrifies the socks off Naruto and the group of misbehaving first-years down the hall. I let out a breath, then pry open my locker and throw all my textbooks inside. Only then do I realise that Neji's still there, and leaning against the adjacent locker nonchalantly. "Can I help you?"
"Yes," he affirms authoritatively. I extract the necessary books and close the locker door, all the while peering at him expectantly, "Come to my place tonight. After school."
I stare back at him owlishly. "Your place? As in, Hyuga Mansion? Look, I don't think Hiashi's that pleased to-"
"You won't see him," he interrupts me sharply, "He's on a business trip. And, in any case, I don't live in Hyuga Mansion. I live with my mother, on the other side of town." I don't respond immediately, because holy shit Neji Hyuga, Hyuga Industries poster boy and cousin of my best-friend, newly re-acquainted, has just asked me to his place for an unknown reason. This is the worst time to have a curfew that I actually want to obey for once.
"Neji," I sigh, "As much as I'm honoured to be invited to your abode, I have a strict curfew that has been enforced since yesterday night."
He genuinely looks shocked by this turn of events. "But, don't you live alone?"
"I did," I admit, spotting the confusion rising up again, "But something happened last night, and," it suddenly dawns on me that the only people who could possibly know about my former habitat are the ones who attend this school. Unless, I have a stalker from outside of the school - that would make things a lot more complicated. It's probably best not to outline the details, in any case, because the perpetrator might still be lurking around here and eavesdropping. It could even be Neji. He looks affronted when I fix him Principal Tsunade's trademark judgemental stare. "Well, see, I can't tell you what's going on at the moment, but I do know that I can't come to your place tonight, or any other night anymore. Sorry."
His brows furrow elegantly. "No problem." Thinking about it, Neji was with Hinata the entire day at school, and he was in our detention, and he did walk with us back to school. There's no way that Neji had enough time to run over to my apartment and tear his way through it like a tornado.
I rock back and forth on the balls of my feet. "Is it something important?"
Neji nods absently as he stares into the metal of my locker, possibly dissecting its metallic components and calculating the best way to chemically set off an explosion with the materials inside of it - maybe, the sandwich that's been inside my locker for the past week. Or, he's just thinking. "Yes, yes it is important. Very important." He adopts that pensive stare again. The bell signalling first period rings. "Where are you living now?"
Everyone starts rushing away and scrambling everywhere, while Neji just continues to look at me expectantly. "Uh, my grandpa's?"
"Great," he starts nodding to himself again, "That's good. I'll tell you what: I'll call your Grandpa this afternoon and get permission to come over, and if that happens, then, seven o'clock? Is that okay?"
I stare at him again. "Why are you doing this?"
He doesn't seem to get why I'm so shocked, because he shrugs and smiles and lights up the entire corridor when he does so, "Because I have something to show you."
"Uh-okay. I guess, if you want to. Wait," something clicks in my mind, "Shouldn't you be going home to your mum? Don't spend time with me when you have her, Neji. Seriously."
I make my way down the hallway to Chem, where Umino is tapping his foot against the floor impatiently. Neji follows. Umino huffs, then walks back into the classroom. "Then I'll bring her along."
What in the world? What is up with everyone today?
"By all means, good luck. Just don't come crying when Grandpa turns you down."
Something in Neji's eyes make me pause in my footsteps. He leans his head down, brushing his fingers past my cheek in a strangely familiar gesture, "I don't give up that easily, Tenten." Then he smiles, perks right up and strides into the classroom without another word.
I take a breather, lean against the nearby lockers and mentally freak out. That was the last thing I was expecting to see from Neji, of all people. Walking into Chem and seeing his smirk is definitely something I'm not looking forward to doing anymore. Breathe, Tenten, breathe.
I straighten my back, close my eyes, and count to three. You can do this. Neji Hyuga totally isn't making your heart beat like crazy.
A nearby screeching sound makes my blood run cold.
Footsteps. Heavy. Male. They're close. Last night's screeching sounds are rounding around the corner; my feet are frozen.
This is bad, really bad.