Hey, thanks for all your reviews! The forced Marriage idea, I will think about it on my vacation, see if I can come up with something unique and not over done. No promises. If anyone has any ideas they want to see, send them over and I'll try. I"m really out of ideas so this might be the last thing you get from me. Love you all and thanks for your support.

-chapter

They walked to his Uncle's house quiet. Both of them had their arms crossed with ample space between them. It was awkward and awful with unsaid words building a wall between them. Now they are going to sit before his Uncle like this, it was a torture beyond Neji has yet experienced. This entire day was too emotionally straining. It was wearing on him having not dealt with such sentiments since he was a child. His patience was at an all time low. Her mixed messages weren't needed either. She wasn't denying him but she said no to his proposal. What sense did that make?

The servant brought them into the parlor where his Uncle sat reading scrolls. He rolled them up as they entered and offered them to sit before him on the two pads waiting for them. His uncle nodded to TenTen in polite introduction, "TenTen-san, it is a pleasure to meet you formally. I've seen you many times before but I never was introduced." It was a slight toward Neji for inconsiderate manners and Neji winced at the implication. He probably should have at some point introduced them considering how he valued her. "You've known my nephew since you were twelve. Seven years is a long time. You must be well knowledged in Hyuga tradition."

TenTen shly responded, "Not really. Neji doesn't talk much."

A soft smile replied, "That is true. Getting words out of him is a difficult process at times."

Neji narrowed his eyes, "My shortcomings are not up for discussion."

His uncle chuckled, "Imagine my surprise to learn that the two of you spent time together. You must mean an awful bit to succeed where other women have failed. I've tried to introduce many opportunities to him and he was beyond crude to each and every woman."

TenTen suppressed a smile, nodding, "I'm sure."

"May I be blunt with you, TenTen-san?"

She glanced at Neji before she agreed.

"What are your intentions?"

"My intentions?"

"I'm well aware of your position in our village. An average Ninja. No family name. Funds that are limited and no inherintage. My nephew must seem like a way out of poverty and amenity. Surely you understand our clan's influence. One word and we can make you ANBU or the Hokage's personal elite squad. If this is your goal, let me warn you that you will not succeed. I've known leches like you my entire life-"

"Uncle, that is enough."

TenTen shifted her eyes to him, "You brought me here to listen to this?"

"I did not know. Uncle-"

"It is my duty to protect you. It is difficult to see lies when lust blinds you. It is their way, opening their legs to snag-"

"Say no more, Uncle, I beg you. You misunderstand."

TenTen stood, "I will not sit here and be insulted. Excuse me."

Neji stood, stepping after her as she ran out of the house but instead turned back to his uncle with defiance in his eyes, "Why?"

"Loose women, Neji, are not fit to be brides. Let alone Hyuga."

"She was pure, I exposed that."

"So she says. Trust me, Nephew, women like her are full of tricks. They will do whatever possible to climb their way to the top. And use whoever they must. You aren't the first one, and you will not be the last. But I will protect you from vixens like her."

Neji clenched his fists, "You insult me, Uncle, thinking I would fall for a woman like that. TenTen is not like other women. She is careless to material items. She works for her position and is proud of what she has done. She would never accept charity. Her pride is too great."

"You are truly in love it seems. I'm too late."

"She turned down my proposal."

His uncle stalled in response. His eyes shifted toward the door TenTen had exited and then they dropped to the floor.

"If you'll excuse me, I mean to go after her and undo what you've done."

His uncle waved a hand and with that, Neji bowed quickly, rushing out the door. He ran to the end of the compound, searching for her. With his Byakugan activated he found her walking through town with a angry scowl on her face. He took off to the right, dipping and dodging through the evening crowd, cursing his luck for every person he ran into. He caught her buns over the crowd and watched her turn the corner and he jumped over them to get to her in time. He snatched her arm, turning her around. Her eyes vibrant in rage, ready to snap at whoever grabbed her. Then the tension left her fist and she shook her head, ripping out of his hold.

"TenTen, wait."

"I don't want to hear anymore."

"My uncle had no right to say that to you."

She faced him, "Is that what you think?"

"Of course not."

"I don't want your money or your screwed up clan. If that's what their teaching their men, I don't want to be a part of it. I should have known. Why do I expect you to be different? You are just like your Uncle. I knew what kind of person you were when I was twelve years old and I let myself be convinced you could change. But you can't. Not living there. I don't know how I could let myself...last night was a mistake." She stepped backward, away from him, with unshed tears in her eyes. "Goodbye, Neji." She turned and ran.

He couldn't go after her. His feet felt glued to the floor, his body felt heavy. Her words were like weights, shackling him.

Neji had always been proud of his clan. There had never been a reason not too. The Branch shaming had ended three years ago and many other unsavory habits were slowly coming to an end. They had some flaws but nothing that would make him feel shame. How TenTen had managed it, he doesn't understand. It was the way the clan works. But it doesn't mean it was a flaw in his character.

Now she felt last night was a mistake. A stab to his pride. A tear in his emotional heart. He never thought he could feel like this. A pathetic, shell of a man. Everything is falling apart when yesterday, before they slept together, it was finally coming together. How could he go from one extreme to the other? Complete happiness to utter devastation within twenty-four hours?

There were no words he could say. If last night hadn't demonstrated his attachment to her, then he knew no other way. She had turned him down multiple times now. A surprise he cannot comprehend. He would not try again. He would have to let her go.

And that is what he did.

Days turned into weeks and those horrid weeks turned into months. Everyday the one night stand with TenTen becoming more hazy and distant even as he attempted to remember every moment and every word. It was a stupid thing to do. It's not healthy to linger on a fantasy and very uncharacteristic of him. But he was still searching for how he had gone wrong. She must have loved him at some point. Yet, as he is coming to realize, there is more than just love that matters. If she could not see herself happy within his clan, than their future would be short and terrible.

Surrendering to the fact, Neji directed his attention to real potential candidates. As he is constantly reminded by his Uncle and a few of the older men that knew about the awful private situation, the best way to get over a woman, is to get under one. A vile thought to be sure, but not far from the truth. Forcing his attention on suitors, allowed him to realize just how silly he had been. Thinking TenTen, a tomboy, a fighter, a feminist, and a independent fanatic would make him a suitable wife was now laughable. Compared to the women he had met recently, it had become clear. She would have made a very horrible Hyuga.

As the months turned to a year, Neji didn't even think about TenTen anymore. Aside from Lee forcing the topic every so often, telling him about her life, he knew nothing else about her, nor did he need too. She was doing the same thing he was, moving on. It didn't matter that life felt incomplete. Every morning, he struggled with a hole missing in his chest. It became so much a part of him, he expected it when his eyes opened. It would lessen throughout the day as his mind wandered to more important things like training, clan troubles, and thankfully on missions, he didn't feel it all. It was perhaps that reason he took every mission offered to him, even as mundane and troublesome as an escort.

One could say it was inevitable that after so many missions and months of avoidance, he would walk into the Hokage's office and TenTen would be there. Like him, she paid no attention to his entrance as he took no effort to look at her and listened more intently to the words out of the Hokage's mouth. His body felt tighter than a drawn bow string.

When dismissed, Neji spun on his foot and left the room before TenTen could move. He told himself he needed to pack supplies as they only had an hour before they had to leave. There was no reason to be nervous around her, or bitter. After a year, surely he doesn't care.

With his bag packed, he waited on the outskirts of the village till she dropped beside him. And though her eyes attempted to meet his, he took off down the road and she a few steps behind him. It was quiet and quiet it remained for the longs hours walking to the diplomat's village.

They picked him up as it was nearing sunset. The stranger didn't like silence as they did and chatted nonstop as they led him back to the village. Every hour that passed began chisteling at Neji's patience and TenTen had a knife in her hand, chipping at her nails, a sure sign she was just as agitated.

After the fifth, loud, obnoxious, most obvious yawn from the dignitary, Neji offered that they take a break and though he acted perfectly capable to continue walking he took off into the woods, off the road to make camp. TenTen murmured, 'Great.' Under her breath but Neji chose to ignore it, snatching up firewood as he followed behind.

After the fire was set up and they ate their traveling supplies, the diplomat stretched out on the ground and promptly fell asleep leaving TenTen and Neji in the quiet of the crackling fire and the unfinished conversations of a year before. Another hour past, a torturously slow and agonizing hour that seemed to mimic the depths of hell.

A whisper broke through the silence, "You're being ridiculous." TenTen finally spoke full of venom.

Neji's anger was brimming and he snapped back lowly, "I'm being ridiculous? You have become so practice at the silent treatment, you are practically nonexistent."

"I've learned from years of your stoic, uncommunicative, immature attitude."

"Immature? You have the audacity to call me immature."

His voice pitched a bit loud and the diplomat's snoring slightly was interrupted by the sound.

TenTen got up and Neji followed, placing space between them and the sleeping mission as she confronted him, still attempting to whisper as her anger escalated.

"Yes, you're immature. I needed space. I needed to think. But you were too stubborn and immature to understand that. A year, Neji, a whole fucking year."

"At any point, you could have stopped this. It is not like you don't know where I live."

"And chance meeting your woman suppressing Uncle? No thank you."

"Talking of immaturity, funny how your traits describe it so well." Her fists balled but Neji continued nonetheless fast and full of a year of suppressed upset, "You refused to listen to me. My Uncle's traits are not my own. Haven't I demonstrated that with years as your teammate? I have never suppressed you, nor would I. I fell in love with you as you are, not a silly idiotic of a woman bowing to those superior. But you are so full of your ridiculous ideals you refused to listen. If this is anyone's fault, it is yours."

"Mine? You asked me to marry you! What was I supposed to do with that? Tied down to a egomaniac with an obvious superiority complex that would sooner put shackles on my wrists than allow me to read a book."

"Proof you have no idea what our future could have been. Hyuga women are well educated-"

"Oh forgive me, the education comes before or after they're forced to carry your children."

"I do not want children!"

"Well, good, me either!"

"Good."

She paused, her arms crossed, her eyes darting in different directions before she growled out, "I don't cook either."

"I have servants. I don't want your awful cooking."

"Good. I wouldn't cook for you anyway."

"Fine."

"Great."

A pause.

Neji and Tenten stepped to each other at the same, their arms slipped around each other as their lips collided. Frantic in their connection, tongues battling messily relearning this intimate practice, finding each other's rhythm. Neji took her face in his hands, parting, panting, kissing her once more before pulling apart, meeting her red cheeks, her desperate gaze, and swollen lips, "Marry me."

She pressed back against him, kissing him, pulling at his shirt and between kisses and touches she forced out, "I was always going to marry you, you stubborn ass." His back hit a tree and his hands pulled at her clothes, untying, unbuttoning, pulling her pants down over her ass so he could grip the fat tissue and hold her against him. "Just not yet." She finished.

He kissed down her neck while her hands pushed at his pants, "A long engagement then." He murmured into her skin, burying his face between her breasts.

"I can do that." She pushed him to the floor and she pulled her pants off before sitting on his lap. Her hand between his legs, rubbing his length. He sucked on his fingers briefly before he slipped them inside her. Her mouth went wide against his own, panting, eyes squeezed shut. "Your clan." She moaned.

Neji observed her face, relearning the spots inside her that drove her crazy. She rocked on his fingers and the wetness increased with each passing minute "What about it?"

"Where will we live?" She pulled his hand away, gripping his shaft and with the tip pressed to her entrance, he held her hips to guide her slowly down. Her breath caught in a quiet, suppressed moan. She bit her lips to stop any sound from escaping but the moment he was fully inside her, Neji himself forgot about their ward and a groan pushed out of his throat. TenTen rested her forehead against the side of his face, breathlessly giggling.

"We'll buy a house on the outskirts." He lifted her up only to bring her back down again and she set the pace of their lovemaking, her knees digging into the ground with her hands on his shoulders. "We'll lose the servants. You'll have to cook."

She smiled distracted, "We'll eat out a lot."

"That's fine with me."

TenTen kissed him, their thoughts forgotten as she rode him hard and quick, acknowledging they were on a mission and needed to increase their pace. He watched her, waited until that final moment all sounds ceased and her mouth opened. Her nails dug into his shoulder and he increased the pace, thrusting inside her to help her reach her peak. Then she came crashing down and he released inside her, wrapping his arms so tight around her, she couldn't move.

He panted against her chest, swallowing, licking his lips. Her body completely relaxed, dropping her forehead on his shoulder.

His fingers went through her hair, kissing her neck, her cheek and then met her lips, "Do you really not want children?"

A smile broke on her lips, "Ask me again in ten years."

He smirked, nudging his nose with hers, "After you finish freeing all the suppressed women of the world, of course."

"Of course."

He chuckled against her.

- END

That's it guys, short and sweet. Going away for my birthday! Send me any ideas and I will think about them on my vacation.