Hi there! Welcome!

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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 1.

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He squinted at the ray of light that was now filtering into the library thanks to the cloud that had stopped covering the sun. But even with his eyes that way he didn't lose sight of his girlfriend who was twirling happily, before approaching him with light hops, kissing him before turning away again to approach the huge world globe that was almost in the corner.

"What do you say?" said Tenten, beckoning him to come to her side, which he didn't hesitate to do, "we could start..." with her left hand she took his and with the other she pushed the globe to spin it quickly, "here," her finger pointed to a random point.

"Here, you know something about..." he answered, bringing his face closer so he could read, "Lausanne?"

"Lausanne," Tenten seemed to think for a moment, "Is it in France?"

"Switzerland."

"Really?" now it was her who came closer to see the choice, "well, what do you think about starting the trip in Switzerland?"

"You didn't answer me, but I'll take that as a no."

"Of course I don't know Switzerland!" she admitted with obviousness, "that's the whole point of this trip!"

"Going to a completely unknown country that you don't even know the language of?"

"No," she smiled, making the globe spin again at full speed, "the goal is to get to know the world, to be able to dedicate a whole year to explore unknown places."

"What will we live on?"

"What does it matter! We'll see what to do depending on where we are, I'll take my savings... you, well, I don't think you really care about the money."

"Will you spend the inheritance your parents left you on this trip?"

"Money comes and goes, I don't think I'll just leave it saved, I'll work later," Tenten played it down, "what do you say?"

"What do I say?"

"I was looking at tickets, there is a promotion for flights the first week of December."

"Where to?" he asked confused.

"Wherever it is, the high season starts in the third week of December... we could leave on Monday after graduation."

"Tenten..." he started and she just went back to spinning the globe without looking at it, "last night I got the letter from the university."

"I think that 3 months is a good time to travel around Europe, don't you think? or would it be better if it was 4?" he kept silent, "I thought you weren't sure about applying yet."

"My grandfather and my uncle insisted that it was better to do it right away, to secure my place," the silence returned, "You won't ask me what the letter said?"

"They accepted you," she answered with obviousness and he raised an eyebrow, "you are the best student of the class and you have an important last name," she added, "doesn't the university library have the name of your great-grandfather or something like that?"

"The amphitheater," he clarified, "what about you? Did you get any response letter?"

"No, I already told you that I wasn't going to apply to any university," Tenten shrugged, "after graduating I want to spend a year traveling the world, I'll decide what I'll do with my life when I come back... when we come back..."

"I've already been accepted to the university."

"You can send another letter requesting to postpone it, that they keep your place for a year, so you won't be expelled and you can start your classes when we get back..."

"I don't have such an adventurous spirit as yours," the brunette started to laugh because that was quite evident, "I don't think I'm going to sleep anywhere or with a bunch of strangers in the same room either."

"Not anywhere, we'll look for decent places," she gave him a kiss on the cheek, "I hate insects, so we'll always make sure the place doesn't have cockroaches or anything like that," it was his turn to draw a lopsided smile just imagining his girlfriend screaming for an insect, "and it won't be hostels, I want us to have privacy."

"Really? Why?" it hadn't been difficult to understand the double meaning in her final word and hence his answer, seeing the mischievous smile on Tenten's lips.

"You know very well why," her words were emphasized with a kiss, his hands immediately traveled to her waist so he could bring her closer, feeling her mold to him.

"I'm not so sure about your plan anyway, Tenten," he said as he caught his breath in the middle of the kiss.

"Imagine it..." she spoke on his lips, "to know hundreds of firmaments, to spend every night under a different sky..."

"The sky is always the same," it was inevitable for him to let his doubts about his girlfriend's risky plan show, "I don't know, Tenten..."

"I want to do it," she said with determination, "and I want you to come with me, to do it together," his senses went on full alert as soon as he felt her hand sliding right towards his crotch.

If Tenten hadn't joined their lips again, he would have answered that last sentence with something referring to being able to do it at that moment, not caring that they were in the library of his house. Despite having celebrated their second anniversary only a few weeks ago, it had only been on the brunette's birthday that year that they had taken that step in their relationship. It was completely impossible to deny that together they had been discovering how much they loved sex, and that they wanted to do it as often as they could.

"Don't worry," she whispered next to his ear while biting his earlobe, "I'll convince you to come with me," he closed his eyes, thinking that nothing around him mattered at that moment.

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The sound of the alarm brought him out of his sleep, and when he was awake the first thing he did was to frown, he hated having that kind of dreams, he hated that his mind every now and then would insist on bringing back those memories to his recent memory. After all the years that had passed, he should have forgotten everything by now, he should have forgotten her.

Yet there it was, every now and then he had a morning like that when he woke up grumbling about having thought about her, about having thought about them together. Because what he really hated about those memories couldn't be summed up simply by the presence of that brunette, whom he should be able to define as his first girlfriend and simply write her down in the list of the girlfriends he had had at his age, no, that wasn't what bothered him the most. What really made him absolutely hate looking back on his last few years of high school when they were dating was seeing himself.

Teenagers were by definition pretty much idiots, and he at 17 had been no exception, completely dazzled by his girlfriend's charms. He had no doubt that he had loved Tenten, not only because she had been his first, and only, love but because he had been sure of that feeling even before their relationship took the step into the physical realm. Long before they had decided together to engage in their first sexual intercourse, he had been sure he loved her. And he hated how naïve he had been at that age because he had even been sure he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

Now at his 34 years old he was looking back, that had been his longest relationship to date, after Tenten there were few occasions in which he had lasted more than a year with a girlfriend, being the most usual that his relationships lasted a few months and the truth is that he wasn't interested in a stable relationship or anything like that.

Also at his age he couldn't believe the vision of life he had in his adolescence, to have really considered going to travel the world with her without any other plan than getting on a plane. But back then it had sounded possible, and because of her he had thought he could try, that maybe it wouldn't be far-fetched as long as they were together. Obviously he always tried to ground the brunette's unsubstantiated ideas and have things a little more organized.

It had cost him at that moment to make a decision, he had responsibilities imposed by his family and things that were expected of his person, it wasn't as simple as getting on the plane with her and that was it, that's why he had asked her to think about it better. He wanted to accompany her, but he also wanted to do things right, because at the end of the day the start of the trip was going to be with both of them being minors. He asked her for patience and to talk about it again after graduation, and 17 years later it still tasted bitter to remember that the answer he got was that Tenten decided to go without him.

That was the other thing that used to bother him about having that dream, seeing himself completely in love and planning to have a life together with her... and that she wouldn't have hesitated for a second to go away and leave him behind. Yes, he didn't think he had survived a whole year of drifting around the world, but he didn't think he would be abandoned like that either.

He frowned again, opting better to get up to get in the shower and try to erase some of the discomfort that those kinds of memories always caused him. She had made her decision, she had moved on with her life and so had he. He wasn't an abandoned damsel and it's not like he wasn't over her either. His life was just as it should have always been.

Stepping out of the shower he got dressed at once, he would be going out for breakfast and after that he had a meeting scheduled that he didn't expect to take more than the morning. Business trips were regular on his agenda and whenever he planned to go to some country other than his own, he would schedule some initial meetings and leave his schedule free for whatever was being scheduled while he was there, being his assistant the one in charge of coordinating the details.

He was a recognized tycoon in the business world and when traveling in search of new investment options it was completely normal for new meetings to come up, although he had to organize his time because he didn't like anyone to waste it and his return date was non-negotiable. Counting also that he used to take some days for himself. He had arrived a couple of days ago in Montreal and still had another month left enjoying the Canadian winter.

When he was having breakfast, he had heard something on the radio from Shino, his chief bodyguard, his position, last name and fortune attracted the attention of many, and that wasn't always a good thing. That's why he always went out with his security scheme, even though he couldn't always see all the guards, his chief bodyguard was always very close to him, so it wasn't unusual to sometimes hear reports given over the device.

It wasn't that he had the restaurants he came to closed or anything like that, although his grandfather and uncle liked to do such a thing he didn't, not only because he knew how to defend himself but also because the men around him made sure that the people present weren't a risk to his integrity and used to intercept those who tried to approach him. While he didn't appreciate strangers talking to him or interrupting him while he was eating, he found it extremely annoying to have to wait until the place was vacated and inconvenience so many people.

To his bad mood because of the sleep that morning he now had to add that he was officially annoyed because the meeting had gone on longer than expected and it was too late to be sitting down for lunch. In the distance he heard something on the radio again, it was simply that a couple of passers-by had fixed their gaze on him, so they wouldn't let them out of their sight.

For his part he continued with his attention on his plate, he had rarely appreciated being interrupted while eating and less so on that afternoon specifically. So it was inevitable that his brow furrowed when the radio went off again and he saw Shino, taking it in hand before leaving to where the others were supposed to be. All he had managed to make out were the words "woman" and "daughter", which gave him a clear idea of what was about to come to him.

He exhaled heavily, that was just what he needed that day to complete his mood. Not having a steady girlfriend and having the needs of any man meant that there were many women who had passed through his bed, both in his own country and when he was on a trip. Having the family name and money he had meant that many thought it was a good idea to have a child, even without asking him, and thus try to get a high child support quota.

For various reasons that only concerned him and the way he had been raised by his grandfather and uncle, he was completely reluctant to have children. He was sure that he would have no descendants and for that reason he had arranged several years ago to have a vasectomy without anyone knowing about it, so that there would never be 'accidents' or anything that could lead to the result he didn't want. The issue was precisely that since it was something he had done in secret and had never disclosed even to his family, many tried to foist pregnancies on him that he was sure weren't his. It wasn't unusual that sometimes a woman would appear where he was to show him a huge belly or a baby in her arms and try to convince him that it was his.

His answer was always the same: a paternity test, with modern technology even DNA tests could be done without waiting for the baby to be born. Some would immediately give up at those words, the more daring ones would have it done, perhaps because they could do the math, but they all came out negative. He had no children and would never have them.

He had ordered a coffee after finishing his meal and was just starting to drink it when the Aburame returned, so he took a sip before raising an eyebrow, he knew what words were about to be uttered.

"There's a girl outside the restaurant."

"And she has a daughter who is mine," he completed taking into account what he had heard before, putting the cup back on the table, "you know the procedure."

"She has a strange accent so it's not very easy to understand her, but I told her what to do and she still insists on talking to you personally, or something like that."

"How old is my so-called daughter?"

"I'm not sure."

"Come on, you've seen a lot of babies claiming to be mine, brighten my mood by guessing"

"There's no baby," he sipped his coffee again before speaking.

"That's new – who comes to claim paternity without showing the baby in question?" he asked more to himself.

"You know, you tend to have an eye for noticing the... pushy ones," Shino said with a sort of smile, "although I never saw you get involved with a woman so young."

"I don't," he rarely got involved with women he had more than a couple of years on, and he had never had a problem with them being older than him. "How old is she?"

"She can't be more than 18."

"So now I have kids with women I haven't even slept with," he took a sip of his coffee, letting silence appear for several seconds, "tell her to go away," he definitely wasn't going to waste his time on that, "if she insists remind her she has to bring the baby for next time and we'll do the DNA test."

"Right away."

The conversation ended there, as did his late lunch. On the way from the restaurant to the car he thought he saw in the distance a young woman staring at him, was that the woman who had spoken to his bodyguards? He took a moment to analyze her, she was dressed in a pair of jeans that were factory worn, a dark red T-shirt and scarf, the coat was short black and she was wearing it open, she was in tennis shoes, on her head he saw her hair pulled back in a high ponytail in addition to a cap and sunglasses. Glasses that disguised the fact that she should have her eyes riveted on him. He denied to himself before getting into the car, he had never in his life seen that young woman, so his previous certainty about never having slept with her ever stood.

He was thankful he'd had a decent night's sleep and that the kind of dreams that put him in a bad mood hadn't been repeated. His morning started out uneventful and his agenda for the day was going to be to go visit a company he had his eye on, so he started by going to the same restaurant as the day before for breakfast.

He had already finished eating and was about to start drinking his coffee when in the distance he heard a loud noise that caught the attention of his security team, with a sign he agreed to let Shino go to investigate what happened while he saw that the other people around him didn't seem to give more importance to what was happening. He picked up the cup again when he could see the young woman from the day before in front of him, she looked agitated because he guessed she had run to get there, and she was dressed quite similarly, including the sunglasses.

"I admit this is a new level," he said to himself in a low voice, convinced that no doubt that young woman should be committed to a mental institution if she had gone that far.

"You're Neji Hyūga," she spoke in Japanese, Shino had been right that it was a different accent which evidenced that this wasn't her native language, although the tone was not exactly that of a question he nodded in response.

"Well?" he replied in the same language in which the young woman had spoken to him.

He couldn't see his head of security yet so he unloaded the coffee on the table to keep his hands free in case he had to defend himself, he had never forgotten the time he belonged to the taekwondo team in high school.

"Where is the baby?" He preferred to get it over with at once, despite the sunglasses he thought he could see that the young woman was hesitating. "How old is this supposed daughter of mine?"

"T..." The young woman's mouth had opened, but closed again without saying anything as if she had been frightened.

"I have never seen you before in my life, I am absolutely sure that I have never touched a single hair on your head," he clarified, seeing that the previous determination of the young woman had disappeared made it clear to him that she wouldn't do anything else, and he preferred to get rid of her, "I will give you money, so maybe you can buy a more suitable pair of pants," although considering that she would barely come of age it was normal for her to dress with the fashion of the moment. He reached for his wallet, he had never given money to these women but somehow it paid off to the one in front of him that she had managed to outwit his guards.

"I don't want your money," it was a murmur when he held out the bill, "I..."

"What else did you come for?" he moved the bill again and she didn't take it, "you invented that you had a daughter of mine but you didn't bring her, now you say that you don't want money..."

"I didn't invent anything," she interrupted him defending herself from the accusation, he saw out of the corner of his eye around him and in the distance it could be seen that Shino was running back, "those men must have been confused because I never told them that I had a daughter of yours," her voice had risen and she was no longer mumbling, "I said that I believe that I am your daughter."

As she finished saying the words, she bit her lip as she proceeded to take off her sunglasses, revealing clearly a pair of eyes the same color as his, but that wasn't what made everything around him disappear for a moment. The color of her hair, the features of her face and the way she bit her lip, he had seen that gesture before, many years before.

It was the spitting image of Tenten in front of him, but those were his own eyes.

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Hello hello!

You know how whimsical my inspiration is, and during NejiTen Week (btw, I have this translation pending) this idea came to me, and it was impossible to go on with my life without writing it, so here we are.

It's an AU (yes, that's already obvious) and it's going to be moderately long (you know that you don't ask). I'm also warning at once that even though it's a NejiTen we'll have some GaaTen tucked in there.

And well, I hope you give it a chance and like it. I'd love to read your theories with this chapter too.

"What about your other ongoing projects, Sally?"

"Shut up, lady!"

Being no more for today, I'll read you in the next chapter (if all goes well on Wednesdays).

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All corrections and comments are always well received, they help me improve a lot.

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Regards, Sally K.