The trek back to their quarters had been long and silent with no words exchanged with each passing step as their bodies stood detached from one another. It was forlorn that tragedy would strike in such a meeting and yet, despite them wanting to deny it, the truth was that there was nothing that could've prevented it, even if it had been done years or decades in advance.

With their heads down, their eyes refused to meet as they forced themselves to move out of that dreaded room where the disaster had consumed the peace only moments ago, knowing well that they were thinking the same thing, the same awful reality of it all. And even though they both felt like they had been cut with shattered glass, their blood bubbling out of the cuts and dripping onto the floor behind them, Neji felt like the shards were still stuck in him, buried nearly into the bone as he felt the numbness of emotional pain and defeat.

The single fall of a tear had been enough to convince Tenten of the pain her husband felt, the trauma of having all that was good in his life being snatched away once again. She knew that she could apply medication to a wound he received from a difficult mission, but this wound would take years to heal and perhaps an entire lifetime in which no medicine could be used to speed up the process.

When they had arrived at their door, it was she who had opened it this time, leaning past Neji to take the handle in her grasp, sliding it open as she entered first.

The door shut behind her and he closed it and the silence was once again trapped between them as they stood in what they thought was their safe space for just them, a place where no one could separate their desire to be with one another.

The meeting had proved them both wrong.

She stood several feet away, her back turned towards him, afraid to look into the eyes that expressed such anger and helplessness in knowing that he wouldn't be able to protect her this time by himself, a concept he had always believed since the day he realized she was the light of his world. He always had a plan, a tactical method in making himself and those around him victorious when things seemed to take a turn for the worst. He was born a leader while also being born a slave, a combination that didn't change the mark on his forehead even in death it seemed.

She had been there on the morning that he had awoken, the long threads of hair she always used to envy chopped off to be used as a conductor to replenish the tissue and cells he had lost after being impaled gruesomely during the war. He had been gone for what felt like an eternity, no longer apart of the world she wanted to share with him, his eyes shut as tubes and wires connected every part of him to machines and monitors in an attempt to keep him alive.

She had seen the wounds as fresh as they were, blotched and rotten with necrosis, withered down to what components he had left to spare in the openings in his chest and abdomen, the muscles splayed with blood and imperfections as he underwent the treatment necessary to save him.

She had also been the first to hold him to her chest that echoed the sobs pouring from her lips and into the open air that was the new hope she had been waiting for.

Now, she had been there to see him at his lowest.

Hesitantly, she turned towards him, raising her head to look at his darkening expression, the dullness in his eyes matching the same texture that he had when he had died weeks before. They were narrowed, the gentle lavender turning into a paleness that made her want to look away once more, to avoid seeing the face she saw as he laid dead, the broken and empty shell that remained on earth until the end of time.

She prevented her lip from trembling as she fought for the courage to call out to him, to bring him back from the place he was currently in, to make him realize that they were both alive, that they loved each other, and that they started a life together despite the disapprovals and stubbornness inflicted within the clan's permission to allow them to marry.

Instead, all she could manage was whispering his name, the quietness in her voice not sounding like the usually positive and radiant one others were used to hearing when they saw her.

He said nothing as a response, but she heard him audibly sigh, frustration filling his voice.

"Forgive me, Tenten," he began, the feeling lacking in his voice. "I lost my temper and in doing so I brought you great shame and humiliation. I don't blame you if you are disappointed in me."

He still refused to look at her, a shadow strewn underneath his narrowing gaze.

The silence passed on eerily, interrupted only by the sounds of distant footsteps and hushed voices outside their door, brushing by as if nothing had ever happened.

She studied him, still unsure over how to respond but she knew that nonetheless, she had to, even if it required her to be blunt with him.

Her body remained rigid as she attempted to take a step forward.

"Neji, I- I'm not upset with you at all. Disappointed yes, however, I was more in a state of shock with what you did. I've never seen you like that before. It scared me."

She whispered the last few words, tilting her head down to look at the space in front of her feet.

She hadn't heard him begin to approach her until she felt the familiarity of his warmth and saw the sight of his own bare feet positioned next to hers.

Her chin lifted and as she found the courage to once again stare into those lost eyes, she was consumed by his embrace, his arms pulling her into his chest as he buried his face within the crook of her neck and shoulder. The feeling of the uniformed-vest, the roughness of the texture, and the smell of him on it made her want to stay there forever, hearing the heart beating against the scar upon his chest as if it hadn't stopped before.

Slowly, she brought her arms up, sliding past the strands of his hair that lied against her shoulders to connect her hands behind his neck, wanting nothing more than to engulf and relinquish herself in his comfort forever.

The existence of such a desire hadn't been known to her until he had first held her like this, almost as if he would lose her if he were to let go.

"I am so sorry, I- it was never my intention to frighten you. All I want was to be able to protect you. I did it in the wrong way."

His words had been gentle and sincere as they filled her ears like blissful music, her eyes resting shut as she melted, the memory of the decision became consumed by fog in her mind. It was something she wanted to forget; a memory she knew she could live without. Though, time would only tell when she would receive the same engraving on her forehead and forever be constantly reminded of what took place and of the day her world and his came crashing down.

"I know you didn't, Neji." She mumbled into his vest; her words muffled in the fabric.

She felt the reluctance of him pulling away, the sweetness of his warmth leaving her body to only last in her wrists that rested against the back of his neck the surfaces of their torsos brushing against each other.

His hands drifted down to hold her waist, the touch feathery and light so that if she wanted to release herself, she could.

She, however, did not want to ever be rid of such an embrace.

Her heels raised as she gained height, pressing down on the back of his neck slightly so that she could reach his lips, kissing them delicately like she had when they first shared in this new experience two years prior. He followed with her movements, her breaking of the affection to catch a breath before going back in for another, making him yearn for more. She guided him at a pace he followed, the breaking, the breathing, and the beginning of something new with just this affection was enough to make the world's conflicts leave them at peace if only just for a little while. After some time, the same was no longer just the same, as Tenten felt her mouth open against his, only to feel him enter with the vigorousness of his tongue sliding against hers.

She could feel her face burning and knew she was blushing a red only her blood would be willing to spare against her cheeks.

Her chest pressed against his own, the thudding rhythm of his heart palpating against her as he caressed her sides, feeling her clothed ribs and the calligraphy of her breasts as he moved his palms against her, wanting more of her in his grasp, a manner he was losing the fight with.

The battle was not his own, however.

Her fingers could no longer contain the want rising in her core as she broke away from the entanglement from behind his neck, letting her hands stroke down his shoulders and towards the visibility of his chest pressed against her own, the fabric and texture of his vest grinding against her nails with each movement.

She nearly jumped when she felt his grip tightened on her backside, just above the flesh that met her thighs as he pressed into her hidden muscle, squeezing them in his grasp. His other hand, remaining on her side, slithered down to meet the other, groping with the same intensity on the opposite side, pushing into her to bring her closer up against him as he claimed her lips again and again.

Until he broke away, pulling his tongue from inside her mouth as a web of thin saliva connected them as they attempted to catch their breaths and take in what they had just done, the experience still clouding their thoughts with desires for lust and utter vulnerability in each other's wake.

Their eyes widened before they quickly retracted their hands from one another, the thread disconnecting from them as their faces bubbled up in crimson, with Tenten suffering most of all.

Neji cleared his throat, turning away to catch his breath as calmly as he could while also attempting to ease the rapid pulse thumping in his throat and chest.

They turned back towards each other prematurely, only to catch one another's embarrassment to their unexplainable behavior reflected in their unsettled features.

"I-I am sorry!" Tenten gasped, glancing off in other directions that didn't consist of his expression. "I don't know what came over me."

"No, I should be the one apologizing," he responded hoarsely, clearing his throat before laying his eyes to rest beneath his lids. "I took things too far. It was inappropriate of me."

An awkward sensation capsized their conversation before Tenten spoke once more, gaining the courage to look towards him, his side facing her as his head kneeled downward, the blush still blotching his normally paler features.

"But, you know," she spoke-up shyly. "We are married now so it's okay to do these things, right?"

By the time he opened his eyes and looked at her, his blush darkened as a response to her change in nature, her palm placed around her arm as it nestled by her chest, the eyes that had once shed tears now gleaming with a light he didn't exactly know the source of.

"Right," he answered a bit more clearly than before.

"It will take time, but it was a good start."

"Y-yeah."

Her timid nature at her actions surprised him, almost as if she was unaware that it was her who had initiated it. Though he didn't mind (not in the least bit), there was something in her that made him believe that it was the end, that her making a sudden move that they had never shared in was her way of saying farewell to the life they had expected and hoped to have, now erased and revised to fit the constraints of the family.

If that was how she felt, then he knew that the pain of knowing what was to come was driving both of them to do things as if they would never do them again.

While they were given no dates, no time correlation for the branding, Neji knew that there was still time, even if it meant only a minute could be spared in which he could utilize to prevent the damnation from occurring. And yet, the thought that aged him considerably in terms of stress was how he would stop things from going wrong.

He would need some help.

After another moment of stillness passed by, Tenten's face still flushed as a result from her embarrassment created by her emotions, Neji narrowed his eyes as he turned to face her, his arms coming up to fold against his chest.

"Tenten," he began. "I don't want to give up, not yet. I think you made me realize how immature and inappropriate I was being, primarily because of the resentment I felt in knowing that the clan would once again make someone who didn't deserve the pain I felt suffer the same fate."

She blinked, listening attentively with her eyebrows raised.

"I know that what the elders and Lord Hiashi said was final, but that doesn't mean we can't attempt to persuade them to at least make exceptions to their decision. But because we do not know the set date, we mustn't waste any more time."

She watched him as he once again turned away from her, nearing towards the door before sitting against the floor, taking his sandals from beside her much smaller pair as he slipped each foot in, zipping and buckling until he was sure they were on efficiently. Taking a stand, he peered over his shoulder at his wife who knew where he was going without him having to utter a single phrase.

She nodded to him before he looked away, reaching out to grab the handle to slide open the door, leaving her with the eeriness of the door sliding shut and to whatever thoughts awaited her.

…...

The knocking at the front door had nearly caused her to miss an entire row of stitches, her needles following her jump at the sudden noise as she looked towards the entryway, closing her pearlescent irises before opening, the veins crunching and forming against the skin surrounding her temples and cheeks.

She saw him, the familiar face appearing slightly more serious with a hint of concern as he waited behind the closed door, standing still almost as if he knew she was using the byakugon without discretion to peer at the visitor outside.

It hadn't been long since she last saw her older cousin of one year, the most recent being only three weeks ago when the two of them had sat down in her home to discuss the affairs of the clan. Though he did visit her frequently, she understood that he wanted time for himself and Tenten to grow as a married couple and while he did not particularly like speaking of their intimacy, she knew that they were doing just fine.

But the concern on his face was making her think otherwise.

The veins disappeared beneath her skin and with her fingertips still latched around the needles, she smoothed the loops of the acrobatic platinum yarn down, ensuring that they wouldn't easily slip from the wooden tips as they often did when she was not paying attention. The webbed and knotted portion, now hanging off the same needle and about the size of a woolen cloth, draped over her hands as she as she shifted the components of her knitting to the side, going over her growing abdomen as her first child lay nestled inside comfortably, still in the process of developing further.

Knowing that it was a challenge to remove herself from the couch with whatever efforts she had to offer, she quickly looked around before remembering where her husband had wandered off to in the house, tilting her head back as her plum strands fell against the back of the sofa, splaying and sticking to the lightness of the textured surface with the static.

"Naruto?" she called, her voice just barely managing to echo back into the kitchen.

"What's wrong? Is it the baby?"

She heard the heaviness of his footsteps as he pounded across the hall, skidding across the floor as he entered the living room as he grabbed onto the doorway to steady himself, hitching forward before standing, the wildness in his cyan eyes staring at her worriedly.

She couldn't help the laugh that escaped from her lips at the sight before her.

"No, no! Big brother Neji is at the door. I was wondering if you could maybe let him inside." She pondered, her voice expressing a gentle kindness only belonging to her.

Naruto sighed before smiling, reaching a bandaged hand up to rummage through his sun-rayed spikes of hair that covered his head before taking leave of the doorway he had utilized to steady himself after his surprising entrance.

"Say no more Hinata! Don't you move a muscle!" he declared, a content smile radiating his scratched cheeks he had since the day of his birth, etching into his skin to give him a very fox-like appearance, much like the once called "monster" that rested deep within him.

She watched as he nearly pranced over towards the entry-way until he was out of her sight, disappearing as he reached the front of the door and she heard it click open upon the release the lock and the familiar creak as the hinges released their hold.

"Neji, it's good to see you!" she heard him greet happily to her cousin before the door was shut firmly again.

"As it is with you, Naruto." A much more serious and mellow tone replied before the sound of shoes being removed and placed neatly to the side came to her ears, the footsteps now pattering across the floor, easing their way into the living area and to where Hinata took her place on the couch, the knitting supplies still nestled beside her as her palms rested against the top of her rounded belly.

Neji was the first to come into view, followed by her husband. Her cousin gave her a softening glance when he saw her sitting up on the couch, almost as if to tell her that there was no need for her to get up to properly greet him as she was accustomed to.

"Lady Hinata," he greeted kindly, allowing Naruto to lead him to the edge of the furniture she was occupying. "How are you feeling?"

"I've been feeling a lot better these last few days," she responded as honest as she could. She knew that he worried about her, but she could only imagine how much he would worry about Tenten when the day comes that she is also with their first child. Naruto was no better off when it came to be a little over-protective and Hinata was positive her usually calm and collected cousin would also suffer the same fate.

Naruto put his hand on Neji's shoulders, easing him towards one of the cream-textured chairs across from Hinata, separated only by the dark spaded coffee table that rested comfortably against the bloodiness of the plain rug beneath it.

"Neji, please, have a seat," Naruto said respectfully before Neji nodded, following in the direction of Naruto's lead before placing himself in the comfort administered by the lightness of the cushions in the chair, easing his back into them until he could go no further, the soles of his feet being brushed by the elegance of the carpet.

Naruto neared away from him, passing by rather carefully to sit beside his wife, resting the same bandaged hand (and arm for that matter) around her shoulders as he rested against her.

They were happy, the two of them together as Neji looked back towards the couple, Naruto and Hinata's welcoming smiles appearing on their faces, each different but unique in expressing the same emotion towards their visitor. He had seen that she was getting closer to her delivery date, her abdomen swollen to a size that could only confirm his theory and his realization that she was having a difficult time in getting up these last several weeks.

But it hurt him to have to tell them what was on his mind.

The guilt had already begun to form before he wished it away and before the words could even be thought of and processed to his liking. The last thing he wanted (besides Tenten receiving the curse mark) was for Hinata to become so stressed that the rest of her pregnancy and labor would be issued as conflicts that could potentially threaten her life.

Neji would once again bear another burden of causing someone else who was important in his life a pain they did not deserve by any means.

The concern began to show on his features, his eyes narrowing as his soft smile faded, the chin that remained so high now tilted down in the internal pain and damage he was already feeling the effects of drearily, making Hinata and Naruto's smiles fade as worry plastered against their expressions.

"Big brother Neji, is there something the matter?"

He couldn't find his pride to look back up at his cousin as he answered.

"Yes," he sighed, closing his eyes for a brief time before opening them once more, forcing himself to lift his head so that he could look into both Naruto and his cousin's saddening eyes as they searched his face for answers with their gaze.

"There was a meeting earlier and this time it was concerning Tenten."

It was impeccable to disagree with the expected quiet response he was given, with the sound of only the panels of the elongated windows held at the front of the living area creaking as the house settled at the presence of the sudden wind, billowing against the foundation with very little light shining through the panes, as was often the case during winter.

It had been a sign, the weather and appearance of the day showing him the dread that was about to befall upon him and Tenten. It had remained throughout, well into the earliness of the mid-morning, bringing about the darkening trepidation that had already been consuming him since he heard his uncle's final words of declaration, the apology given thereafter meaning absolutely nothing to the rage already building up within his chest, consuming his heart like predator and prey. How now did it turn to sadness, he had no answer to. It was a phenomenon that made him aspire to feel strong again, to witness the strength he once had, before all of this changed and before their fate was decided.

He only feared that the pain Tenten would feel, if there was no way of preventing it, would leave his heart numb, his body alive but his soul dead.

He needed to release some of this negativity as he knew what to say next, clutching and clenching his fist beside his lap, not near the couple's view as his fingertips dug into his already bruising palms.

He began slowly, taking in the breath he needed to.

"Tenten is going to be branded with the caged-bird seal."

There was something off about the silence that followed, unlike the one before in which nothing but the home could be heard as it dealt with the environmental components from the outside. The silence that came was like death's breath, making the stages of understanding harder to comply with as Naruto and Hinata could only stare, the widening of their crystalline lavender and blue eyes matching in their shock and disbelief, Hinata's small gasp barely escaping her trembling lips as she held a hand up to cover her mouth.

"What?" Naruto exclaimed, his head shaking as he clenched his jaw. "That doesn't make any sense. We have been working with the elders for months on changing the Hyuga and they never once brought this up."

"Father," Hinata whispered, removing her hand from her mouth to rest against her chest. "Father would never agree to something so repulsive."

"He did," Neji said distastefully, almost with the same bitterness he felt towards Hiashi's apology. "Because he didn't attempt to argue against it, at least, not in front of Tenten or myself."

Naruto opened his mouth as if to respond, but shut it, closing his eyes as his eyebrows slanted downwards in a glare, his free hand that was not resting against his wife now rubbed against his eyelids and forehead, making him appear as an older man with these gestures Neji had never seen him bare before.

"This still doesn't make sense to me." He said frustratingly. "If they wanted to brand her, why didn't they just tell you before you married her?"

"I don't know," Neji responded wearily. "But what I do know is that I will need your help. They told me that I am technically still a side branch member as I still carry the curse mark on my forehead. However, I know that you and Hinata already have your hands full with the baby, and I already regret coming here to add to your stresses-,"

Naruto stood, forcing Neji to follow up to his face, the eyes that been hidden away were now wide and bright, an expression Neji and Hinata have both seen far too many times to count in their years of knowing Naruto Uzumaki.

It had become obvious, especially to Neji, how greatly Naruto had matured, from being a brat who painted and vandalized the mountainside of stone faces who bared the responsibilities of keeping the village safe to a hero everyone knew and wanted to meet. He had sacrificed more than what bad luck bestowed upon most people, especially at the time of his birth when his parents willed themselves to death so that he may find himself in a world that would only see him as a monster and to change that view.

To be recognized.

He gave Neji that same smile, the one he only wore in battle when dying was at a high stake and there was no escape. The same kind he wore when he vowed to Neji to change the way of the Hyuga clan when he fulfilled his dream of recognition and became the Hokage, the leader of the very village that turned its back to his growth, unknowing of the real power and potential he possessed even as a child and now, a young man.

It was then that Naruto approached Neji, rounding beside the coffee table to firmly place his palm on Neji's shoulder, making sure that their eyes were interlocked and that none would back away too quickly before the words that needed to be were said.

"Neji, we have gone too far in trying to change the clan. If Hinata and I didn't do this, then will our efforts make things better? This is an ongoing battle we have to win and we can't back out now."

"That's right."

The voice that was once so shy was now also exuberating in collaboration with her husband, a gentle grin plastered on her lips as she looked upon Neji with fondness.

"Don't worry about the baby or us, Big Brother Neji. We promised that we will fight with you, no matter what. This is no exception."

His words were paralyzed in his throat as Neji heard their responses exhibiting such a strange aura of confidence he had lacked in the meeting and around his wife. It was as if it had suddenly become their life's ambition to save Tenten from the awfulness that fate was about to bestow upon her existence.

"I don't know how I could ever thank the two of you," he said, taking his hand back to his side.

"You don't need to," Hinata said sweetly. "You have already risked your life for Naruto and I, let us repay the debt by helping your wife who is also a dear friend to us as well."

Naruto took a step away from Neji so that he could walk past the table, reaching his hand towards his cousin before she took it and held it against the pull of gravity wavering in the air, looking at him with the same innocence and determination he had seen his entire life. He loved his cousin and he was more than willing to admit that now than several years prior. And now, she was going to be a mother, a new stretch of fate that made Neji content with the way things were progressing for her and the love of her life.

He didn't know if they could win, but there were now only two outcomes.

Save Tenten or suffer alongside her.