Forced Wedding

From afar

Everyone in the village had been talking about Tenten's wedding reception that night, he had made sure to take the matching shift so he would have a valid excuse for not attending.

He was standing nearby keeping guard when Gai approached him.

"Neji!" shouted his sensei, "it's the reception of our beautiful flower, Lee and I already danced with her, it would be a nice touch if all of us in the team danced with her."

"Gai-sensei, I'm on duty," he answered getting down from the tree he was standing in.

"Neji," Gai spoke to him seriously, "it's not a request, if necessary I will drag you to that hall."

"It's not pertinent Gai-sensei, if you allow me I must continue," his sensei extended his arm to prevent him from passing.

"I'm still stronger than you, so do me a favor and go to that hall."

"Hmph," was his terse answer as he started walking, as he entered he could see Tenten dancing with Chōji.

"Here he is!" said Gai giving him a not so subtle push to move forward, the atmosphere between the two of them could be cut with a knife, "don't stay there, let's dance!"

"Neji," she greeted him.

"Tenten," he answered extending his hand to her, she took it and started the melody.

"I... I didn't know that we were coming to the village," her voice was a whisper.

"Tsunade didn't want me to be in the village for the visit," he confessed.

"What are you talking about?" There was no eye contact, she was trying to make them notice that they were talking.

"I requested the mission," he paused smiling gloomily, "maybe I'm a masochist."

"Neji, I..." a fake cough made her keep silent, it couldn't be someone else.

"Can I have the next piece? I'd like to get my wife back if it's not too much trouble," Toshio was looking straight at him, exactly the same way as on the wedding day.

"Of course, I must get back to my work."

Before leaving the place he could see out of the corner of his eye what looked like a reprimand from Toshio to Tenten. He left the place and continued with his work.

Although he was on his break, and no longer followed their orders, the Clan insisted that he must be present at the opening fight of the chunin exams. The rules had changed that year, in his opinion to favor several of the mediocre genins who often showed up and then complained about the severity of the trials, they were going to start filling up with weak chunin.

The first match was with the Lightning village, and he watched carefully to see the level and fighting techniques used by the visitor. The fight was close, and the participant from the Lightning village made a jutsu that he recognized without hesitation, it was one of Tenten's weapon jutsu! And the young man's aim had left no room for doubt, from where he was watching the fight he couldn't see her reaction, but he could imagine her triumphant look. Inwardly he was glad that she could use her ninja techniques. Many times she had mentioned that she thought her plan B might be to become a weapons teacher. At the time of the lunch break he headed home and caught a couple of hours of sleep before his shift started again.

From the designated place to keep watch he could perfectly see the main entrance, the forest behind it and the road leading to the village, so he was surprised when he saw Tenten come out of the dwelling and turn her gaze to the Hokage residence, starting to head there, he started to walk behind her. When they reached the place, she headed for the office, and he climbed up to the window to listen from outside. Whether or not Tsunade noticed his presence, the woman didn't say anything to him. Because he had accompanied Tenten to that consultation he could hear everything, his fists clenched involuntarily when he heard the news.