The Littlest Hyuga

Oh hey guys, remember me? LOL

No, it's not a dream, I really am here, posting something after a bazillion years. It's been so long since I've been on here, actually, and a couple weeks ago I was brought back by a friend and I got it into my head that I should read some of my old stuff. The Hyuga Eyes and The Hyuga vs The Hormones have always had a special spot in my heart, which was probably why, as I was finishing reading the latter, I felt the need to write this.

So here it is, guys, part three to that NejiTen!Baby AU thing I've got going on!

"Stop standing there and fucking do something, Neji!"

"And what do you suggest I do, Tenten? It is not as though I can push the child out for you!"

From where she was standing checking the monitors hooked up to Tenten, Sakura grimaced and wondered to herself how Neji managed to make it through the past nine months without being maimed. Sasuke hadn't been as lucky during her own pregnancy, finding himself in a hospital bed twice in those three long, long trimesters. Clearing her throat, she shifted her eyes to Tenten and grimaced again when she saw the vein throbbing in the woman's temple. She looked about five seconds from ripping the IV out of her arm to lunge at Neji, regardless of the fact that she was eight centimetres dilated and likely only a couple minutes from welcoming their baby into the world.

Wanting to avoid a crisis, Sakura quickly hooked her arm through Neji's and gently drew him away from the bed, looking gratefully at one of her medics as he took that moment to step in and check Tenten's vitals again.

"Yea, that might not be the best idea right now, Neji," she warned under her breath. "I mean, you do want to live long enough to meet your son, right?"

Blowing out a heavy breath, Neji ran a hand over his face and into his dishevelled hair, staring unseeingly out the small window in the hospital room.

By the time she'd hit the forty-week mark in her pregnancy, Tenten was ready to give birth- no, she demanded that she give birth, ready to finally not be pregnant anymore. It wasn't as though she harboured any ill will towards their child obviously, Neji knew that, but he could only imagine how difficult it was for her.

Their child, their son, was evidently a big boy, if Tenten's extra large stomach was any indication. At one point, they even wondered if they were having twins, but Sakura assured them that there was indeed only one baby in there. Just one big, healthy baby. As great as that was to hear, it was Tenten who had to bear the physical burden of such a robust child. During the last few weeks of her final trimester, she was bound to her bed or the couch, unable to even walk across the street to pick up their groceries from the strain. She experienced horrible back and knee pains, no doubt thanks to the added weight of their pride and joy, and couldn't even get up from a seated position without assistance towards the very end.

Now, Tenten had always been incredibly independent and determinedly so, even as a child, so understandably she didn't take too well to being unable to do anything by herself. She couldn't even do up her own sandals or put on her pants without assistance from himself or one of the few people she allowed to see her in such a state. Perhaps it was wrong of him to think it, but Neji was eternally grateful that he was a man and would never have to go through that himself- he'd likely drive himself mad.

Which was why he tried to be as understanding a partner as he could possibly be. He catered to her every whim, within reason of course, and did his best to keep her as comfortable as possible. That being said, even the best laid plans did not always pan out, and there were numerous times where he'd narrowly escaped being made into a human pincushion by his darling fiancée. Tenten's anger was legendary before she'd gotten pregnant, but it seemed to only grow more so as the weeks passed. Their friends, who'd made frequent visits during the first and second trimester, smartly chose to give the couple their space during the third, lest they incur the wrath of a terribly frightening pregnant woman with infallible aim. Only Lee, Gai Sensei, Hinata and Sakura continued to visit regularly, the latter of whom only really did so to save them the trip to the hospital for Tenten's check-ups.

With all the discomfort and pain, Neji understood Tenten's frustration when their due date came and went with no sign of their son being ready to vacate his home curled up under his mother's heart. In truth, he was quite frustrated himself- he wasn't as impatient as Tenten, but he was still anxiously counting down the seconds until he could hold his baby in his arms. Not to mention the fact that, as selfish as it might have seemed, he was ready to let his guard down around his lover once more. Things had been…tense for the past couple weeks, to say the least. With Neji hovering like a concerned mother hen who was trying not to be too obvious about it and failing miserably, and Tenten ready to strangle anything and anyone who make the mistake of getting too close.

Long story short, they were both more than ready for their baby to make his entrance into the world.

It was four in the morning and Neji was in the kitchen of Tenten's, their, apartment grabbing a drink when he heard a loud crash and a string of curses.

Dropping the glass in his hands, Neji flashed into their shared room, a kunai drawn out of instinct, only to gape in un-Hyuga-like horror as Tenten stood leaning heavily against the nightstand, her brow pinched and her skin flushed.

"What is it? What is it?" he demanded, striding forward and grasping Tenten by the shoulders to hold her steady as he ran his Byakugan-activated eyes over her form. "Are you okay? What happened? Dammit, I told you not to get out of bed yourself, Ten! You should have called for me. You remember what Sakura said about-"

"I think my water just broke."

"-taking it easy and- Pardon me?"

"You heard me, Hyuga. I think my water just broke- either that or I just peed myself, but I'm willing to bet a dozen dumplings on the former idea."

It took a moment for Neji to register the words, for him to process. He had, of course, purchased every book he could find on pregnancy, labour and parenting the moment Tenten had revealed that she was with child. He was a prodigy for a reason, after all, it wouldn't do for him to not have all the facts at hand- and since he unsurprisingly knew very little about pregnancy, it only made sense that he'd do everything in his power to learn.

So, theoretically, he knew exactly what was happening. Her water had broken, she was finally going into labour, their baby was on his way, they needed to get to the hospital. And yet all he could do was stare down at Tenten, watching the way she clutched a hand between her legs as a large wet spot spread over the front of her sleep shorts.

"Neji," she growled after a long minute, pinching him hard enough that it'd surely bruise. It was exactly what he needed, however, because he snapped out of his shock and slipped seamlessly into shinobi mode. With a firm nod, he gently deposited Tenten onto the bed and then passed her a stopwatch- to time her contractions. Once he was sure she would be fine alone for a couple moments, he darted across the room to where he stashed Tenten's hospital bag- which he of course packed himself, three times over, as his fiancée watched and made jokes. She seemed to be plenty grateful now, however, seeing that they wouldn't have to waste any time packing right then.

Bag hooked over his shoulder, Neji ignored her protests and swooped Tenten into his arms, resisting the urge to jump out the window and race to the hospital like a madman. Using the front door and moving at a reasonable pace seemed to take forever, but it kept Tenten from fisting his hair so tightly that he thought he'd be left with bald spots before he even hit twenty-five.

Once they'd finally arrived at the hospital, Neji strode straight to the counter, bypassing several people who had been waiting in line, and fixed the medic there with a steely gaze that had the poor man sinking in his seat. Neji, of course, was well known around Konoha, as was Tenten. Surely everyone knew by then not to cross the Hyuga prodigy, especially not when his lady love was involved.

"She's in labour. I need a room. The largest you have, the most private. Locate Sakura as well, we will have no one else."

The medic blinked once, twice, clearly scrambling to figure out what he should do. He looked to be fairly young, and under other circumstance, Neji might have even taken pity on the boy. But not then, not when Tenten was in labour. She would have the best of the best, in all aspects, and if anyone denied her that, well, Kami help them. The medic must have read that in his eyes because he scrambled to his feet at once, shouting for one of his colleagues to go track down Sakura while he delegated another to go find an open room. Unsurprisingly, it did not take long for them to be settled, Tenten cursing up a storm as her contractions came faster and more powerfully.

Sakura hurried into the room just as another medic narrowly avoided being clocked in the jaw by Tenten's fist- and only because she seemed to be having another contraction mid-swing.

"Help her. Help them. Please."

Neji's eyes were intense, they always were, but there was also a note of pleading to his tone, a hint of fear in his eyes. Having done all the research he did, he knew very well that childbirth wasn't quite a walk in the park. So much could go wrong, for both the mother and child. The thought of losing his baby was soul crushing, but the thought of losing Tenten was too much to even think about. He was nothing without her, she was all the very best parts of him. Nothing in his life mattered without her, not his standing within the ANBU or his clan. Nothing.

Sakura, a mother herself, married to someone who had literally threatened Tsunade of all people during her delivery, completely understood and nodded, giving Neji a quick smile.

"They will both be fine, Neji. Don't worry."

Neji nodded and released the breath he was holding.

They would be fine.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fucking FUCK. If you think I'm ever letting you touch me again, you are dead wrong, Neji Hyuga, you hear me? Dead. Mother. Fucking. Wrong. You can just jack off to porn from now on, I don't care! You're not touching me with a ten-foot pole!"

Snapping himself out of his thoughts, Neji looked away from the window and back to the bed, only to meet a furious pair of brown eyes glaring at him in a way that made him wish the floor would open up and swallow him whole.

"Tenten-" he started softly, chancing a step closer, but she was having none of it.

"No! No. Don't you Tenten me, you animal. That's how I got in this mess in the first place!"

A flush rose to his cheeks when he noticed that both Sakura and the other medic in the room were biting back grins- he didn't find the situation particularly amusing. He didn't even understand what Tenten was getting at, really, but he'd learned his lesson and wisely didn't comment on it, instead slipping a little closer to the bed as Sakura positioned herself between Tenten's spread legs.

"Okay. Okay, I am sorry. Truly, Ten, I am sorry for this pain you are enduring, the pain you had to endure these past months. It could not have been easy, but I…Thank you…for pushing through it anyway. For our son. I can only hope that our child grows to be as strong as his mother one day."

Neji wasn't really one to open up like that, at least not with an audience, but he'd sucked it up considering the circumstance, and clearly made the right decision because Tenten's eyes softened a fraction, her bangs plastered to her sweaty forehead.

"Oh Neji…" she murmured, turning the hand closest to him palm up, silently asking for him to take it.

"Will you stab me for touching you?" he asked then, lips twitching slightly, but wasted no time in lacing his long fingers through hers, giving them a squeeze.

"I'll think about it," she responded in kind, but her grin was quickly wiped away by a grimace, gritting her teeth as another contraction hit, stronger than the others, stealing her breath away.

"Fucking hell, when you guys said labour was a bitch, you really meant it- how the fuck do women intentionally do this to themselves multiple times?!" she demanded of Sakura who could only chuckle and pat her friend's knee, knowing all too well what the other woman was going through.

"Maternal instinct?" suggested Sakura and Tenten snorted, panting at the ceiling. "Maternal instinct my ass."

"Speaking of body parts, my fingers-"

When Neji received a glare from not only Sakura and Tenten but also the assisting male medic in the room, Neji snapped his mouth shut and swallowed his words. He could heal any broken fingers later, he decided quickly.

"Okay, you're about ready to push, Tenten. Ready? Go!"

Tenten hardly had enough time to suck in a breath before she was bearing down, face going tomato red as she pushed.

"You're not pushing hard enough, Tenten," said Sakura when she finally collapsed back onto the bed, and Tenten looked down at the pink haired Kunoichi as if she'd lost her mind.

"What the fuck do you mean I'm not pushing hard enough! I'm pushing so hard I feel like I'm going to push all my organs out along with the damn baby!"

Sakura chose not to comment on the anatomical impossibility of that, instead fixing the brunette with stern eyes. Tenten was scary, yes, but so was Sakura.

"I know that you feel like you're pushing hard, and you are. But you need to push harder. I know you're tired," she said before Tenten could say so herself, "I know, believe me, I was in labour with Sarada for nearly seventeen hours. It's hard, but it'll be worth it, I promise you. Now push dammit! Has sitting on your ass for the past month made you weak or something?"

Neji stared at Sakura like she'd grown a second head for that last comment, and expectedly, Tenten bristled and ground her teeth together so hard it was audible over the beeping of the machines in the room. It took him a minute, and he blamed the stress of the situation and the numbness of his hand on that, but he quickly realized that that comment was a calculated move on the head medic's part. Because sure enough, Neji noted that very familiar fire in Tenten's eyes. Determination.

The next time Sakura told her to push, Tenten growled deep in her chest and pushed, as hard as she could, and still, it wasn't enough. Better, according to Sakura, but not enough.

Collapsing back against the pillows, she squeezed her eyes shut against the bitter sting of frustrated tears.

"Hey, no, please do not do that."

Tenten cracked open one eye to look up at Neji as he leaned closer to her, his hair falling over his shoulder to brush her arm. She could tell that he was trying to put up a strong front, partly for her, partly because they were with company, but she knew him well enough to see the strain in his eyes, the worry in the corners of his lips.

"I can't," she sniffled, clearly exhausted and frustrated and disappointed in herself, not just from the past couple hours but the past couple weeks as a whole. "I can't, Neji- what do I do? What do I do?"

"You simply…do, Tenten," he responded evenly, using his free hand to stroke her sweaty cheek. "You do what needs to be done, and you will succeed because you are Tenten and you will accept nothing less."

Tenten held his gaze for a long moment and then a ghost of a smile passed over her lips. She would succeed, because she was Tenten. He was right.

When Sakura next gave her the command to push, Tenten bore down again and pushed like she'd never pushed before. Dimly, in the back of her mind, she registered the crack of bones beneath her fingers, but she was far too occupied to really pay it much attention.

"Good! Good! Just like that, Tenten! Quick break here, catch your breath, and again! Push! I can see his head!"

Sakura's encouragement only spurred her on, her loud cries filling the room as she pushed and pushed and pushed.

Until her cries were joined by another.

Tenten collapsed back on the bed, tears streaming from the corners of her eyes as she panted heavily. She let go of Neji's hand then, and though at least one of his fingers were definitely broken, he hardly registered the pain.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Neji watched as Sakura cradled the not-so-small bundle in her arms, unbothered by his wailing as she crooned to him and wiped him clean. He didn't even realize the pinkette was speaking to him until she reached out to touch his shoulder.

"I- what?"

"I said, you can cut the cord now. Right here."

Neji had read about this part too, in his books, and he knew, logically, that he'd have to put it to practise eventually. But in the moment, he was mortified to see that his hands shook. Him. Neji Hyuga. ANBU Captain and one of the top shinobi in all of Fire Country.

Clearing his throat, he stepped closer and forced his hand steady before he carefully snipped the cord.

When Sakura stepped away with the baby, he heard Tenten stir on the bed.

"Wait! Come back! I want to see him, dammit!"

"I promise I'm not stealing him, Ten," Sakura chuckled from where she was taking measurements. "Though he is a cutie, you might want to keep an extra close eye on him." She was only teasing, but behind her, Neji and Tenten exchanged a wide eyed look as they both wordlessly agreed to never let their child out of their sight. Ever.

After what seemed like an eternity, Sakura came back- and passed the wriggling bundle in her arms off to Neji.

Not usually one for emotion, unless it was with Tenten and only when they were alone, Neji didn't have words for what he was feeling as he looked down upon his son's face for the very first time.

He was perfect.

Ten fingers, ten toes. The chubbiest little cheeks he'd ever seen in his whole life. The thick thatch of hair atop his head was a rich chocolate brown, undoubtedly a gift from his mother, as were those pretty little pouty lips. But the rest of him- he was the spitting image of Neji. And, funny enough, the first thought Neji had after that revelation was that Tenten was going to kill him for it.

"Oh for fucks sake! Let me see the damn baby! I just pushed him out of my fucking vagina, you know, I deserve to see him!"

"Language, Tenten," Neji admonished softly without looking away from the baby. "He really can hear you now, and I will be quite cross if his first word is fu- that."

Neji felt rather than saw the glare, and smiled despite himself as he glanced over at his fiancée, sweaty and exhausted and as beautiful as she'd ever been. It's what she looked like the first time he realized he was in love with her, after all, after a particularly brutal spar between the two of them. She'd lost to him, and was livid as a result, but as she sprawled under a tree, covered in dirt and grime, Neji knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her by his side.

"What are you staring at," she grumbled self consciously, smoothing loose tendrils of her hair back from her face, and Neji grinned so brilliantly that Sakura paused what she was doing to stare openly- now there was a sight not many were graced with.

"Nothing," Neji responded as he moved closer to the head of the bed, taking another look at his son's face before gently transferring him into Tenten's waiting arms. She seemed to forget all about her anger and her self consciousness in the blink of an eye, her features softening, eyes welling as she gazed upon the baby's face. Staying close to the two, Neji looked back and forth between mother and child, wondering what Tenten was thinking as she was uncharacteristically silent.

"No fair," she complained finally, releasing a watery laugh and looking up at him. "He looks just like you.

At that, Neji couldn't hold back a laugh himself, not quite surprised when he felt the backs of his own eyes prickle.

"Well, he gave us quite a bit of trouble, did he not? Stubbornly not willing to give up his place in your womb. It seems as though our child has inherited some of your traits after all."

When Tenten hurled the cup of ice chips at him, Neji let it hit him in the chest and drop to the floor before sitting on the edge of the bed and leaning down to capture her smiling lips with his own, one hand laying over hers where she cradled their child.

"I…really hate to intrude," started Sakura, and the couple parted to look over at their friend, "But do you guys have a name in mind yet? It's alright if you don't, there's no rush. Ino took nearly a month to name Inojin, remember? We can just call him 'Baby Boy Hyuga' on the hospital records until you come up with something."

Neji began to nod, gratefully accepting the offer for more time. They'd discussed names early on in the pregnancy, coming up with a few possibilities, but after Tenten's mood and physical wellbeing started to take a nosedive, they'd tabled the discussion. And never got back to it.

"Yes, thank you," he responded politely, but with a little more warmth than usual. "We will let you know when we-"

"Hizashi."

Neji froze.

"…Pardon?"

"His name," Tenten repeated, without looking up from the bundle nestled in her arms. "It's Hizashi Hyuga. Don't you agree?"

She looked up at him then, and Neji's heart lurched at the sheer intensity and warmth in her eyes. He was acutely aware of everyone's eyes on him, aware that he probably didn't look as composed as he usually did- but he didn't care.

All his life, Neji simply wanted to belong. To be accepted, to have a family who loved him and cherished him, not for his capabilities as a ninja or as a pawn, but rather for who he was, faults and all. He had learned early on that that would not likely happen, and that thought was cemented after his father died, cemented every time he woke up and saw the curse seal against the pale skin of his forehead. So he'd turned his attention instead to his training and his studies, figuring that he would find fulfilment instead through climbing the ranks and becoming the most powerful Shinobi in all of Fire Country- and beyond.

He was doing so well with convincing himself that it was all he needed. And then she came into his life. Neji would admit, straight up, that it was not love at first sight. He had a distinct distain for girls as a child, thinking them all to be weak like his cousin, and instantly wrote Tenten off as yet another whiny, annoying little girl who was going to try and foist her flower arrangements onto him.

Only that never happened.

Tenten was horrible at flower arrangements- didn't fare too well at any of the endeavours that were stereotypically targeted towards the Kunoichi, really. But she was good at sparring, not as good as him, not as good as Lee either, but she was good. Better than the other girls, for certain. And, he begrudgingly had to admit, she had better aim than anyone he'd ever come across, himself included, even as a little girl. She never complained about the rigorous training sessions Gai Sensei put them through, never once made a fuss when her hair got messy or her clothes were ruined, never once fawned over a boy, not even that Sasuke everyone was so crazy about.

So he decided he would tolerate her. And then a couple years later he decided he would one day marry her and allow her to bear his children. It was never meant to be anything romantic, at that point in time, Neji had still been as emotionally constipated as ever- it was an arrangement of sorts, in his mind. A partnership with the woman he found least troublesome. And then, of course, somewhere along the line that plan went to shit.

And now he had a fiancée with whom he was very much in love, and she just made him a father, had just given him another chance at a family, a chance to have the relationship he never got to have with his own father.

"Neji?"

At her probing question, Neji focussed his eyes on Tenten's face and gave a short nod, unable to find the words for another couple moments.

"Yes," he said finally, eyes dropping to his son's face as he reached out to stroke a finger gently over his hair, trying valiantly to hold himself together even as he started to realize he wasn't doing all to great a job at it. "Hizashi Hyuga."

Little Hizashi chose that exact moment to open his eyes for the very first time, peering inquisitively up at his father with large, pupil-less lavender eyes, almost as if to ask what all the fuss was about.

Neji's breath wavered, hitched, and then he gave in and leaned forward to press his face into the side of Tenten's neck just as the hot tears began to slide down his cheeks and the silent sobs wracked his powerful frame.

"Tenten…Thank you."

Thank you for reading, my lovlies! My heart tells me I'm not done with this series just yet, lol, but I will also mention that I don't know when the next post will be as my life is significantly more busy now than it was what, three years ago? Time flies, my friends, and I really do hope I'm back on here some time soon with yet another update!

I'd also like to mention that it's 4am right now and I have to be up for work in 2 hours, so please excuse any mistakes.

Please leave a comment/review, they definitely help with my motivation.

And no, that's not a bribe.

Mostly :P