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Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me, otherwise the NejiTen would be canon.
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Enjoy.
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Chapter 22. Deliberation
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She turned on the shower and enjoyed the warm water as she lathered up a few at a time and exfoliated her skin, washed her hair, and a few seconds before stepping out she turned off the hot water tap and turned the cold one on full blast, almost shivering from the drastic change in temperature that left her wide awake. She stepped out of the compartment after wrapping herself in a towel and having her hair in a turban. Brushing her teeth before taking her cream and applying it all over her body. It was a little strange but relieving to see her reflection and notice that all the marks that had accompanied her for the last few months had finally disappeared completely.
She had relegated to the back of her mind the conversation she had had with Neji in that courtroom office before the jury verdict. She didn't know why she had told him to give her time when what she really wanted to tell him was to go fuck himself and not laugh at her anymore. She inhaled deeply, she wasn't going to think about that.
She got dressed and took the keys of Kankuro's car, who was still asleep, to go to the supermarket. Her own car was still at the Club since the day she had gone in anger and she had not needed it, while he was in the office she hardly went out, and if she did it was to walk around the neighborhood. She bought some ingredients she needed for the dinner she planned to make that night and when she returned he had just woken up.
They had breakfast together and put on the TV for a while, Christmas Eve was always characterized by bad programming, they watched the news noting that it was still talking about the case, showing images of her in court and then the insurance company was coming out that was thankful to have been able to stop a systematic embezzlement, he changed channels and after not finding anything interesting they finally opted to put on an old movie of the ones he had in storage. They were going to spend the evening alone as Gaara was traveling and Temari had agreed that she would spend that day with her boyfriend and New Year's Eve with them.
As she cooked she listened to Kankuro tell old stories as she laughed, and then stopped him from eating one of the side dishes early. After dinner they had spent some time on the terrace of the house enjoying the view, but the cold made her protest and just after toasting with a wine they had chosen for the date, they lay down to sleep. She got up secretly to leave her gifts by the tree and could see that although she hadn't felt him leave the bedroom, he had done the same, thank goodness they had agreed not to exchange anything that year.
In the morning he handed her the first gift, a pair of heels for her to wear that day, they weren't as high as the ones she usually wore to the office, and so she wouldn't look taller than him. She handed him his first gift that she had chosen after much thought, a coupon valid for a class to improve her mnemonics with dates, she could have sworn that his laughter had been heard all the way to the next neighborhood.
After that she gave him the second gift, the real thing. She had had to search quite a bit considering that she knew nothing about the subject, no matter how many times he had explained it to her, until she found a collectible, assemblable puppet that he didn't have in the apartment nor was it among the ones she destroyed in the office, and that, depending on how he rigged it, changed its shape. The second gift given by him seemed strange to her, he knew that she wasn't much of a jewelry wearer, so he never gave her anything like that, but in the small box there was a gold chain that he explained she should also wear that day, she had to admit that it was beautiful.
The marriage was in the afternoon almost at evening, she combed her hair in 2 braids that then gathered behind her head and gave the impression of being something elaborate, she applied more makeup than she usually did for the office and put on the dress, it was red with straps, and like all the outfits that he chose for those social events, it didn't allow her to wear underwear because in the thin and delicate material anything was marked. Fortunately, although it was low-cut, the neckline was made of loose fabric in the front, avoiding to show more than necessary when the cold air hit her. The slit in her right leg was halfway down and revealed her new heels, which were just the right height to keep the dress from dragging.
He did her the favor of fastening her new chain and they left. The ceremony was short and when they approached to congratulate the newlyweds, these weren't surprised to see her there, the few times that Kankuro was seen in any gathering was because she accompanied him.
"So?" she asked him while they danced one of the initial pieces after dinner, "what do you have for me?" he turned to look at all the attendees.
"There are 5."
"Including us?"
"Then there are 7."
"150 guests and 7 affiliates... it's growing the investment company, Mr. Sabaku," since he had told her about the existence of the Club, they had created that private game. He told her how many members there were in the place, and she had to guess who they were, "any additional clues?"
"One of them had the nerve to ask me if you are a member, and if so what is your nickname to ask for a date."
"That for sure was Kiromu," he nodded, "he's been seeing me since we arrived... What did you tell him?"
"That you are the most chaste woman I know," she couldn't help laughing, "you would never join something as perverted as Three Club."
"Never," she repeated, completely serious.
They had danced for a while more before sitting down, so far he had found 2 more affiliates and watched the dance floor carefully trying to find the ones he was missing. Usually she recognized them because they avoided looking at him directly, or the opposite, they just stared at him not knowing how to act. But at that moment he was in the bathroom so there was nothing to give away the remaining ones.
She thought back to the day of the initial allegations, and the encounter between Neji and Kankuro. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't manage to remember the Hyūga's expression, she had been embarrassed by the words they had exchanged between them and hadn't suspected that they knew each other. She shook her head, she wasn't thinking about Neji – she didn't want to think about him! She was enjoying a nice evening and she wasn't going to let that man cloud it.
"Will you walk me out?" he spoke into her ear and she stood up at once to accompany him to the balcony of the place, which fortunately had space heaters or she would have frozen to death in that dress, "I gave you that chain with a double intention."
"What are you talking about? What intention?"
"Will you promise me you won't kill the messenger?"
"What did you do Kankuro?"
"Someone asked me the favor to give you something," she saw him angrily knowing perfectly well who he meant when he said someone.
"Throw it away, I don't want it," she went to turn her back to return inside, but Kankuro stopped her by holding her wrist, "I can't believe you would do this to me."
"I really think you should see it, if you want to throw it away after that..." she saw a small ring glitter in his open palm, she could feel her pupils constrict and her heart speed up before she took the jewel in her hands, and read the inscription AMA 08/08/88, "he said it was an apology for London."
"This is..." she could hear her parents' laughter at every anniversary as 8 was their lucky number, and then always say that they didn't know her mother was already pregnant when they had married, "impossible," a tear rolled down her cheek at the time.
"Do you still want me to throw it away?" he asked her in a low voice, and she denied without being able to stop crying, his hands unfastened the chain and before she could protest or get scared because he took the ring from her, he introduced it between it, and put it back on her neck.
"Thank you," she hugged him and they stayed there until he told her that everyone was leaving.
Was he really that bad? The question replayed again in her mind, had he just made fun of her? Then why go to the trouble of giving her such a gift? Besides she had never mentioned anything about her mother's jewelry to the Hyūga, how had he known? How had he gotten it? How long had he been looking for it? She fell asleep without being able to take off that precious amulet.
The next morning she looked for her phone, which she used to keep abandoned among the cushions in the living room where most of the time she didn't listen to it, and the few times she did she noticed by a special identifier that Kankuro had installed for her that they were journalists or some law firm and she didn't want to talk to these. She checked the missed calls to see if there was anything important and that was when she realized that Neji had called her a week ago, just once without insisting. She took a deep breath before hitting the dial option, on the other end of the line there was silence as he answered.
"I..." she didn't even know what to say to him so she bit her lip, "thank you, Hyūga."
"You're welcome."
"You don't know how much this means to me..."
"But it doesn't change anything, I know," he told her without letting her finish speaking.
"Really, thank you so much," she said between tears before hanging up.
Her thoughts began to run over each other, on the one hand those that told her that that was a noble gesture that directly erased what happened in London, altogether for not even in her wildest fantasy had she imagined having her mother's wedding ring, she didn't even know that such a thing could be found. So the first thing she hated the Hyūga for had been nullified, and he had said he was going to change in his professional aspect. But then there was the side that told her that he had discovered her at the Club, and had only taken advantage of the situation.
It was impossible for her to decide if she wanted him near or far, above all she still felt hurt and she knew that only time would heal her. At least now she was grateful that she had asked him for time, and not sending him to hell.
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All the Sabaku had scheduled a New Year's trip, so a couple of days before the date they had taken their bags and went to a town far away from everything, to a small country village where they celebrated the date and stayed for almost a week, after that they all had to return to resume their work. She took 2 more weeks before accepting that it was time to return to reality, she had been away from everything long enough and had to go to her own apartment, so she finally called her boss.
"Tell me this call means you are coming back," was his greeting and she smiled because he didn't claim her absence.
"Yes, I think it's time."
"Perfect, when are we waiting for you? We all miss you around here."
"Monday."
"Excellent, by the way, have you seen the university chat?"
"No, I am just starting to go through all the messages I have since the trial ended, what happened?"
"The Hyūga firm decided that they will do a technical test for the selection of their interns, and hire the best ones no matter what university they are from."
"Really?"
"Yes, no one can believe it yet, and from what I heard some of the other big ones decided that a percentage of their interns will be from a public university."
"That is excellent."
"Yes, it is, but you better check the messages and we will talk here on Monday."
"I will do that, happy weekend," she said goodbye and started to check all the messages she had accumulated.
On Monday she entered the firm's facilities and everyone greeted her with joy, in her office she made a list with the name and email of all the job offers that had come to her to send a thank you but she didn't plan to go to work in any other company. Kiba helped her to break everything before throwing it away while he told her some of the latest rumors, among those that the ghost of Christmas had visited Neji and like Scrooge, he was doing good deeds.
One of these was that in conjunction with a foundation the Hyūga had set up a scholarship that covered all expenses, including personal ones, to study abroad for a semester. She hid her reaction to those words, first the university internship and now the semester abroad with expenses paid, she waited for the Inuzuka to leave and took her cell phone.
"I need a favor," she said when he answered.
"Will you stop starting your calls to this number like that?"
"It's the last one."
"This sounds interesting."
"Can I come by your office when I leave here?"
"Only if you promise not to destroy anything."
"I promise."
"I'll wait for you," as soon as the clock struck 5 she got into her car and went to the Club.
The secretary was getting ready to leave and the woman saw her with fear when she entered, she just handed her a chocolate bar by way of apology. She waited patiently until the woman indicated that she could go on and sat down in front of the desk while he finished a call.
"I want to know something about a member," she explained as soon as Kankuro put the phone aside.
"You made a decision about him I see," she tilted her head to one side with a smile.
"Is his membership still active?" he typed something and then nodded, "has he attended again?"
"I don't think you want to know that."
"Is that a yes?" he moved something with the mouse.
"No, he hasn't been back since November."
"Would you text him the appointment?"
"Are you sure? Shouldn't you meet him at a coffee shop or something?"
"I am... if I have a choice, I'd rather be on my grounds," Neji could still turn down the appointment or propose some neutral place.
"Hares don't attract predators to their burrow."
"You forget I wanted to be a Vixen," he smiled and typed something else.
"Done, you'll get his reply in a message," she got up to turn the desk around and hugged him.
"Thank you."
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All corrections and comments are always well received, they help me improve a lot.
Hope you like it!
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Regards, Sally K.
